“Thank You” Costs Tens of Millions of Dollars
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed a shocking fact.
Simply by using polite words like “thank you” or “please” when interacting with ChatGPT, the company pays tens of millions of dollars in additional electricity costs.
This issue is not just an interesting topic. It’s a real problem that many companies may face as a new business challenge in the AI era.
Why Do People Treat AI Politely?
A 2024 survey revealed interesting data.
67% of Americans responded that they use polite language with chatbots. Looking at the reasons in detail:
- 55%: “Because it’s ethically appropriate”
- 12%: “In case AI takes over the world”
These numbers show the reality that many people treat AI as an equal to humans.
How Costs Are Generated
Why do polite expressions become costs?
AI systems need to process every word entered. Words like “thank you” or “please” are no exception.
This processing requires electricity, and with a massive user base like ChatGPT’s, it becomes an enormous expense. As of March 2025, ChatGPT is the 8th most visited site in the world.
Even slight additional processing at this scale accumulates into huge costs.
The Dilemma: Morality vs Business Efficiency
This issue highlights complex aspects of modern society.
The Importance of Moral Values
People’s behavior of treating AI politely demonstrates basic human dignity.
Maintaining courtesy even when the other party is artificial intelligence is an expression of humanity. It may also become the foundation for relationship building when AI becomes more advanced in the future.
Corporate Practical Challenges
On the other hand, companies like OpenAI face difficult choices.
Pursuing efficiency could mean asking users for concise instructions. However, this would suppress natural human politeness.
Accepting the current situation means a substantial cost increase of tens of millions of dollars.
Impact on Users
There’s an important point that shouldn’t be overlooked.
These costs borne by AI providers are likely to be passed on to users eventually. To maintain profitability, companies may respond in the following ways:
- Raising usage fees
- Strengthening free plan restrictions
- Promoting migration to paid plans
In other words, an ironic structure is emerging where our politeness eventually leads to increased costs for ourselves.
Are There Solutions?
Technical approaches can be considered for this problem.
Technical Solutions
- Developing features where AI systems recognize polite expressions and optimize processing costs
- Spreading efficient communication methods through user education
- Implementing filtering functions that automatically exclude polite expressions
However, these solutions also create new challenges of development costs and implementation complexity.
New Social Costs in the AI Era
This phenomenon is an example of unexpected social costs accompanying the spread of AI technology.
With technological advancement, new friction is emerging between human behavior patterns and business efficiency. This suggests the possibility of similar challenges occurring in the future.
Companies and society as a whole need to consider response policies to such problems.
Summary: Reconsidering the Value of Humanity
The cost problem created by politeness toward AI is prompting us to reconsider modern societal values.
Balancing moral values and business efficiency is not easy. However, through this discussion, it’s also important to reaffirm the value of humanity in the AI era.
As technology develops, we will continue to face new forms of social costs.
There is no single answer to this problem, but a balanced approach that pursues efficiency while maintaining humanity is required.