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Topics: Money, Technology, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Business
They say that manners don't cost a thing, but people being polite to ChatGPT is costing the company an arm and a leg.
Users saying 'please' and 'thank you' to OpenAI's chatbot has drastically hiked up electricity expenses for the tech firm, according to it's CEO Sam Altman.
Although some people wouldn't bother minding their Ps and Qs when chatting with artificial intelligence, there's a host of people who make a point of being courteous.
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And given the fact that Altman recently revealed that the memory function of ChatGPT has been 'greatly improved' so it can recall all of your past conversations, it's probably not a bad idea.
I mean, the last thing you would want is a robot remembering you as rude, right?
It seems that's what the overwhelming majority of Brits think, as research conducted in December found that 71% of people in the UK go out of their way to be polite when conversing with ChatGPT.
The survey of more than 1,000 people, conducted by Tech Radar's Future, found that those who skip the niceties do so with the intent of being as brief as possible.
Among a variety of other reasons, 12% of people admitted they go out of their way to use good manners through fear of future consequences.
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However, it seems we might all be better off taking a more discourteous approach when using ChatGPT, as saying 'please' and 'thank you' to it is apparently costing OpenAI a bomb.
In a post on X last week, Altman revealed that it costs the firm 'tens of millions of dollars' due to the extra energy consumption.
An inquisitive social media user had shared a tweet explaining they would love to crunch the numbers on how much the courtesy of users is costing the company.
The post read: "I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying 'please' and 'thank you' to their models."
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It got thousands of retweets as well as a whopping 182,000 likes, so it seems this query has been on a lot of other peoples minds too.
Thankfully, Altman entered the chat to dish the dirt about the fee, which comes with users expressing their gratitude for all of ChatGPT's hard work.
The CEO responded to the post saying: "Tens of millions of dollars well spent--you never know."
It requires a hell of a lot of power to keep the AI chatbot working efficiently and it's estimated that up to 0.14 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy is used for every single short response it forms.
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This is equivalent to keeping 14 LED bulbs lit for one hour, if you were wondering - but imagine how much that tots up to when ChatGPT creating billions of these responses every single day.
Still, it seems Altman thinks being polite is worth the money because it allows the technology to continue to become more and more advanced.
Kurtis Beavers, a director on the design team for Microsoft Copilot, explained that AI mirrors the tone of the user and advised people it's better to be on their best behaviour.
The tech guru said: "Using polite language sets a tone for the response. It’s a conversation."