“𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲” 𝗮𝗻𝗱 “𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗬𝗼𝘂” 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁? 𝗔𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆.

A recent viral post highlighted a playful exchange where someone asked how much electricity OpenAI wastes on people saying “please” and “thank you” to ChatGPT.

Sam Altman’s reply?

“𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵—𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.”

Naturally, I had to run the numbers. 🤓 If:

180 million users say “please” and “thank you” just 10 times a day

Each prompt uses ~0.3Wh

Electricity costs $0.12/kWh

👉 That’s $129,600 per day

👉 Or ~$47.3 million per year

All for a little extra politeness.

What struck me wasn’t just the energy cost—it’s the value of human nature showing up in digital spaces. Even when interacting with AI, we can’t help but be polite. That says something beautiful about how deeply ingrained respect and empathy are in us.

So the question is:

Should we prioritise efficiency—or cherish empathy?

P.S. All these data points were given by ChatGPT itself. Of course. 😄