Saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to ChatGPT is costing it millions of dollars

5/5/2025

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed last week on social media that users saying "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT has come at a surprisingly high cost to the company.

Altman made the remark in response to a question on X (formerly Twitter), where a user asked how much energy OpenAI had used thanks to people being polite to its AI models.

“Worth tens of millions of dollars—you never know,” Altman replied, suggesting the expense was significant but not unwelcome.

Generative AI is known for its substantial energy demands, particularly during the training phase of large models.

Kurtis Beavers, a design director on Microsoft’s Copilot team, addressed this in a Microsoft WorkLab memo. He emphasized that showing courtesy when interacting with AI helps promote “respectful, collaborative outputs.”

Beavers noted that generative AI tends to reflect the tone, professionalism, and clarity of the prompts it receives. He added that treating the chatbot politely “not only brings back the same kind of respectful tone, but can also enhance the AI’s responsiveness and effectiveness.”

Unusual Whales does not confirm the information's truthfulness or accuracy of the associated references, data, and cannot verify any of the information. Any content on this site or related pages are not intended to provide legal, tax, investment or insurance advice. Unusual Whales Inc. is not registered as a securities broker-dealer or an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) or any state securities regulatory authority. Nothing on Unusual Whales should be construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any security by Unusual Whales or any third party. Options, investing, trading is risky, and losses are more expected than profits. Please do own research before investing. Please only subscribe after reading our full terms and understanding options and the market, and the inherent risks of trading. It is highly recommended not to trade on this, or any, information from Unusual Whales. Markets are risky, and you will likely lose some or all of your capital. Please check our terms for full details.

Any content on this site or related pages are not intended to provide legal, tax, investment or insurance advice. Unusual Whales Inc. is not registered as a securities broker-dealer or an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) or any state securities regulatory authority. Nothing on Unusual Whales should be construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any security by Unusual Whales or any third party. Certain investment planning tools available on Unusual Whales may provide general investment education based on your input. You are solely responsible for determining whether any investment, investment strategy, security or related transaction is appropriate for you based on your personal investment objectives, financial circumstances and risk tolerance. You should consult your legal or tax professional regarding your specific situation. See terms for more information.

The Blubber

Trump has told Walmart, $WMT, to 'eat the tariffs' instead of raising prices

Moody’s downgrades US credit rating to Aa1 from Aaa

YouTube, GOOGL, viewers will start seeing ads after ‘peak’ moments in videos

CEOs say that just a fraction of AI initiatives are actually delivering the return on investment they expected

Stay Updated