Does Politeness to ChatGPT Really Cost Millions in Electricity?

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently replied on X that “being too polite to AI” has cost OpenAI tens of millions of dollars in electricity, drawing widespread attention.

A user asked why saying “please” and “thank you” to ChatGPT might increase OpenAI’s electricity bill; Altman answered and noted that the exact figures are still unclear.

This cost arises because longer prompts or more frequent requests increase the amount of data the servers must process, leading to higher power consumption.

For example, a simple greeting like “thank you for your answer” prompts ChatGPT to reply “You’re welcome! If you have any other needs, just let me know,” and such polite interactions accumulate into a notable compute expense.

Many users are indeed polite. A survey by Future PLC at the end of last year found that 67 % of U.S. respondents say they speak politely to AI chatbots.

Among them, 55 % said “because it’s morally right,” while 12 % cited “fear that AI will rebel,” reflecting the tendency to treat AI as a human‑like entity.

This trend is not merely psychological; the belief that “politeness yields better AI answers” is widely accepted. Designers such as Microsoft’s design director have suggested that polite language helps achieve cooperative results.

From a response‑quality perspective, politeness may be beneficial and ethically positive, but it also increases electricity consumption, potentially harming the environment.

Microsoft design manager Kurtis Beavers told users that “polite interaction helps generate respectful, cooperative outcomes.”

A Microsoft WorkLab memo added that “polite language sets the tone; when the AI perceives politeness, it is more likely to respond politely, and generative AI reflects the professionalism, clarity, and detail of the prompts you provide.”

Altman told TED curator Chris Anderson on April 11 that ChatGPT’s usage continues to grow rapidly, with about 800 million weekly active users—roughly 10 % of the world’s population.

Currently, AI data centers account for about 2 % of global electricity consumption, and this share is expected to rise sharply as AI services become more pervasive.