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Why it’s so costly to be polite to AI: The hidden price of courtesy

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Chaitanyesh
Updated On
Now you can use ChatGPT for voice interactions and image-based responses
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  • Each polite phrase to ChatGPT increases response length, requiring more computation
  • Data centers use massive cooling systems to handle the heat from this processing
  • OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says these costs run into the “tens of millions of dollars"

As AI-powered tools like ChatGPT become more mainstream, the environmental and financial costs of everyday digital politeness are coming under scrutiny. A seemingly harmless “please” or “thank you” to an AI chatbot might be racking up a surprising bill—one that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says is in the “tens of millions of dollars.”

Responding to a user on X (formerly Twitter) who wondered how much OpenAI has lost to courteous interactions, Altman replied, “Tens of millions of dollars. But well spent.” He even hinted that the actual number could be higher, adding, “You never know.”


">April 21, 2025

So why are these simple pleasantries so expensive?

Behind each AI-generated response lies an energy-hungry process running through powerful data centers. These facilities don’t just need electricity to process language models—they also rely heavily on massive cooling systems to prevent the servers from overheating. These cooling mechanisms consume enormous energy themselves, adding to the already significant power footprint.

Also Read: ChatGPT overtakes Instagram, TikTok as most downloaded (46 million) app globally

Every time a user types a few extra words out of politeness, the model has to process and generate a longer response, resulting in more computation, more heat—and therefore more cooling.

Altman’s comments shed light on a lesser-known aspect of artificial intelligence: while digital etiquette is heartwarming, it also comes with a very real environmental and economic cost.

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