Do you say ‘Please’ to ChatGPT? Sam Altman reveals how much electricity your manners cost to OpenAI

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently confirmed that seemingly harmless social niceties like “please” and “thank you” are contributing to substantial energy expenses for the company. Responding to a user on X who wondered about the electricity cost incurred by polite language in interactions with ChatGPT, Altman replied that it amounts to “tens of millions of dollars well spent.” The remark, though light-hearted, underlined the real cost associated with each word processed by the AI system.

Altman’s comment sparked a conversation about the way…