I’ve always tried to be polite, even to machines. Whenever I use ChatGPT, I find myself typing “Please” for a request and “Thank you” after a helpful answer. It may sound strange, but it’s comfortable to show gratitude to someone or something, right? It is just my little habit that has grown over my life. I am sure many have experienced the same thing. This is why it surprised me, when I came across an article on the internet.
“What is thank you cost…?”
This was my honest question when I first learned that saying kind words to generative AI could consume an enormous amount of data.
Our Digital Friend
With an unstoppable development of technology, AI has become our digital friend to answer any questions that may have come to our mind. They are always willing to hear your questions, which is why many people may say “please” or “thank you” after the chat with the robot, just to show thankfulness. May seem what a normal human being will do. Right? Well, every time you express gratitude to your digital partner, you may also be unintentionally contributing to the world’s environmental energy consumption. “Thank you cost” is a phrase used to refer to the environmental and financial cost that may be produced when users show kindness to robots such as ChatGPT. These LLMs have been used by people all over the world, with its vast information stored.
Why do we say kind words to a machine that does not have a human brain or emotions? For me, it just works that way. As mentioned above, that is how I was raised: be kind to anyone or anything, even if they may not have sentiments. It’s similar to that of when you talk to a teddy bear, even if they don’t understand you. ChatGPT or other chatable digital friends are even nicer, responding to your troubles, and they even respond very politely.
Yet, the environmental effect is hard to ignore. It is already announced that Data Centers already take up 2% of the global electricity, and are thought to grow by double by 2030. My “thank you” and “please” may not be added up to affect the world, but with billions of people using the same phrase, these tiny consumptions contribute to massive energy demand. To me, this is very ironic; we have been taught to show gratitude when we’ve been offered something. But now, we may need to change our behaviors and rather be disrespectful to our digital friend to save our world.
This leaves me with two options:
- Sacrifice my politeness and demand my digital friend with short-sentence requests to conserve energy.
- Continue being polite regardless of the effects I may have on the environment.
Honestly, I can’t decide which side to be on for now. What I do know is that the decision to be polite to AI is both a technical and a moral choice. Living on, this decision will be harder to make as the boundary between computers and humans has become less distinct. What is important regarding this topic is not just about reducing the number of words to be sent; always be aware of how much continuously evolving technology impacts the world, both good and bad. Moreover, it is crucial that this knowledge spreads not just to specific individuals who are interested in these fields but also becomes common knowledge among the general public.
Thank you for sharing this information. I was not aware that being polite could have such environmental and financial impact.
It is interesting to think about how we as humans behave in relation to (artificial) technologies. We know that they are made out of wires and hard materials, yet we approach them as we would with humans.
What does this say about the human sensuality? And about the power these technologies have?
This made me think of those digital pets back in the days. We cared for them as if they were actual pets. As a kid, you were maybe too young to carry such responsibility to care for a living organism. Thus, a ‘fake’ pet was the perfect solution to experiment how you would conduct.
I do the same thing you did. I subconsciously say “thank you” to the AI (ChatGPT or Gemini), even though it doesn’t actually have emotions. I feel like it’s my obligation to do the right thing. I definitely think it’s inevitable that we’ll live with AI, but we also need to be careful about what information we give it. We never know if it could be used as a weapon against us.