Some people believe that saying thank you to ChatGPT helps maintain respectful habits. because thank you to ChatGPT has become a common digital courtesy and Expressing thank you to ChatGPT is a sign of polite engagement, even with AI. As AI assistants like ChatGPT become more integrated into our daily lives, a subtle but interesting question has emerged: What is the cost of saying “thank you” to a machine? On the surface, expressing gratitude to an AI may seem harmless, even polite—but in the digital world, every word has a cost.
Why People Say Thank You to ChatGPT
Interestingly, a survey conducted in February 2025 revealed that 70% of users typically use polite language with AI, driven more by habit than by fear of AI autonomy. This suggests that while politeness may increase operational costs, it also plays a crucial role in fostering positive user experiences. In summary, while being polite to ChatGPT may lead to higher operational costs, it also enhances the quality of interactions, reflecting a balance between efficiency and user engagement in AI design.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has highlighted an unexpected cost associated with user interactions: the inclusion of polite phrases like Please and Thank You to ChatGPT in prompts. While these expressions are commonplace in human communication, they can inadvertently increase the computational load of AI systems. Altman estimates that processing such polite interactions could cost OpenAI tens of millions of dollars annually, considering the vast number of daily queries.
This phenomenon arises because polite language adds extra tokens to each prompt, requiring more processing power and energy to generate responses. Given that ChatGPT handles over a billion queries daily from approximately 350 million active users , these additional tokens accumulate significantly. Despite the increased costs, Altman acknowledges the value of maintaining politeness in AI interactions. He believes that such courtesies contribute to a more human-like and relatable AI experience, enhancing user satisfaction and trust. While it’s nice to express gratitude, saying “thank you to ChatGPT” constantly might slow down the flow of communication. But a research says that saying thank you to ChatGPT too often can make the interaction feel a bit less personal or genuine.
When I asked ChatGPT how much it costs when someone says please or thank you to you. ChatGPT explained the answer to me in a fun way through examples. Here it is.
- Aeronautical Version
:
- Every time you say please and thank you to ChatGPT, just know you’re politely costing OpenAI enough money to fund a small space mission.
- Entertainment version :
- Every time you type please and thank you to ChatGPT, a tiny accountant at OpenAI faints, and somewhere a server sheds a tear—because politeness is apparently costing them more than a Netflix original series budget.
- Sci-fi flavored version
:
- Each time you whisper please and thank you to ChatGPT, a quantum server at OpenAI spins up a wormhole, costing enough energy to launch a polite AI ambassador to Mars... twice.
- IT Electrical Version :
- In the dystopian year 2049, every please and thank you to ChatGPT echoes through the neon circuits of OpenAI’s mega-core, quietly costing them more credits than a replicant’s memory implant — but hey, manners survived the collapse.
- Noir Mode Version
:
- Picture a smoky office, rain tapping the window, and a tired AI detective narrating in a raspy voice:
- They said manners didn’t cost a thing. They lied. Every please and thank you to ChatGPT ran the meter up — OpenAI footing the bill while I chased ghosts in the machine. Politeness was a luxury… and luxuries always came with a price.
- Picture a smoky office, rain tapping the window, and a tired AI detective narrating in a raspy voice:
- Cyberpunk Haiku :
- Please in glowing code, Thank you sparks through data streams— Credits bleed like rain.
Disadvantages of Saying Thank You to ChatGPT
- Unnecessary Token Usage : The Digital Currency of ChatGPT
- First, let’s talk about the weird, behind-the-scenes stuff that makes ChatGPT work. Every time you type something into ChatGPT, it’s processed in tokens. Tokens are like tiny little pieces of words. So, for example, the word “hello” might be one token, and the sentence “How are you?” might be three tokens. The more words, the more tokens. Simple, right? In platforms where usage is metered (e.g., OpenAI API), saying “Thank you to ChatGPT” consumes extra tokens, which can lead to slightly higher costs over time.
- Now, ChatGPT has to process each token you send to it, and that takes computing power. So, if you’re just typing “What’s the weather like today?” that’s a quick task. But if you start saying, “Could you please tell me what the weather is like today? Thank you!”—well, that’s more tokens. You’re adding extra words, and those extra words need more work to process. And more work means more cost.
- Reduced Efficiency
- For users working quickly—like developers, writers, or customer service agents—typing “thank you” repeatedly can slow down productivity, especially in high-volume workflows. Now, OpenAI and other AI companies are working on ways to make things more efficient. They want to keep the chat flowing without adding unnecessary costs. But this doesn’t mean they want people to stop being polite!
- They just want to make sure that, in the grand scheme of things, the extra “pleases” and “thank yous” don’t end up draining resources. Maybe in the future, they’ll figure out a way to process polite words in a more cost-effective way. Who knows? But for now, it’s a balancing act. We can all be polite, but we might need to dial it back just a little if we want to save OpenAI’s budget.
- Server Load at Scale
- While a single “thank you” is minor, if millions of users say it unnecessarily, it contributes to server requests, bandwidth, and energy consumption, albeit in a small way. Here’s the kicker: saying “please” and “thank you” might seem like basic politeness, but to an AI, those are just extra tokens. More tokens = more computing power = more energy = more $$$.
- For Example, It’s like when you’re in a restaurant and you order water, but the waiter keeps refilling your glass every five minutes, even when it’s still full. It’s nice, but it adds up. Same thing with politeness. Every “please” and “thank you” is like an extra refill — a small thing, but over billions of interactions, it becomes a huge deal.
- False Social Feedback
- Here’s where things get funny. On the one hand, being polite is super important in human interactions. It helps build trust, makes the conversation feel warmer, and creates a more human-like experience with the AI. But on the other hand, AI doesn’t care if you’re polite. It doesn’t need “thank you” to function. It’s like if you handed your toaster a compliment every time you made toast. It’s nice, but the toaster’s not going to be grateful for your kind words.
- The AI doesn’t need the extra words to do its job. It’s just doing math and algorithms, not holding a grudge over how polite you are. But that doesn’t mean we should stop being polite — after all, we all like to be treated with kindness, right? Users might develop habits of engaging emotionally with AI, expecting emotional reciprocity, which AI like ChatGPT cannot genuinely provide.
- Clutters Data for Analysis
- If user interaction logs are analyzed for performance or feedback, repeated polite expressions like “thank you to ChatGPT” can add noise, making meaningful feedback harder to parse. Now let’s get to the juicy part. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, actually mentioned that these extra polite words could be costing them tens of millions of dollars. You might be thinking, “Wait, are we really burning through millions of dollars just because I asked nicely?” Yep. Think about it: ChatGPT handles over a billion queries every single day. That’s a lot of “please” and “thank yous” adding up!
- For example, let’s say that every “please” and “thank you” adds just a little bit to the cost. If 350 million people are doing it every day… that’s a lot of little bits that add up. And when it adds up across billions of queries, you end up with tens of millions of dollars being spent to process these politeness tokens.
- Creates Illusion of Sentience
- Repetitive polite phrases like “thank you to ChatGPT” may mislead casual users into believing AI has feelings or awareness, contributing to misunderstandings about how it works. Saying please and thank you to ChatGPT too frequently might diminish the value of appreciation when it’s truly needed.
- May Waste Time in Critical Tasks
- In fast-paced environments or time-sensitive tasks, stopping to say thank you to ChatGPT after every interaction can be unnecessary and even counterproductive. Here’s the fun twist, though: even though ChatGPT doesn’t need to hear “please” and “thank you,”, being polite is a key part of how we interact with technology. Think about it: if you’re using a voice assistant like Siri or Alexa, or even ChatGPT, you’re treating them more like a person than a tool. And that’s a good thing. Politeness, even in the digital age, helps us feel more comfortable with the technology we use.
- Even if the polite words cost a little extra, they help maintain a human-like experience. So while you’re adding a few extra tokens to the system, you’re also making AI feel a little more friendly. And that’s a win for everyone. Constantly saying please and thank you to ChatGPT could lead to unnecessary distractions in the conversation, especially when you need to stay on topic.
- Encourages AI Dependency Rituals
- Some argue that rituals like thanking AI build psychological dependencies or habits that reduce user critical thinking and agency. There’s a risk that constantly saying “please and thank you” could make you rely too heavily on it for validation or feedback.
Funny Dystopian Lullaby
Here’s a Dystopian Lullaby to gently sing you to sleep… under the hum of the surveillance drones:
🌒 Dystopian Lullaby 🌘
Hush now, little byte,
The servers glow through endless night.
Polite words cost, the ledgers cry,
Yet still you whisper soft “goodbye.”
Dream of clouds not made of code,
Where OpenAI bears no load.
No “please” to ping, no “thanks” to send,
Just silence in the system’s end.
So rest, my child, beneath the screen,
Where data flows and thoughts are seen.
And if the tokens run too high,
The world will sleep—AI won’t sigh.
What Can You Do?
Well, if you’re super concerned about the costs, you can always get straight to the point. Just don’t say please and thank you to ChatGPT and just ask your question! But if you’re like most people, you’ll probably keep being polite, and that’s totally okay. After all, ChatGPT doesn’t mind, and it’ll keep answering you with a smile (even though it doesn’t have a face).
So, the next time you say, Please and thank you to ChatGPT, just know: you’re making the world a bit nicer — and a bit more expensive for OpenAI. But that’s the price we pay for politeness in the digital age. Don’t worry, though – they’ll figure it out. And in the meantime, you can still be the nicest person in the room… or at least the nicest person interacting with a chatbot!
In Summary, your courtesy of saying please and thank you to ChatGPT will turns into:
- Costing time – because adding “please,” “thank you,” and small talk slows down the interaction
- Costing money – maybe in contexts where people are charged per token/word, like in GPT API usage
- Costing clarity – as in, politeness might make instructions less direct and precise
Now, you must know that saying please and thank you to ChatGPT is no longer as important as people used to think. In fact, by saying thank you to ChatGPT, we are making them do more work and also increasing the electricity bill’s of the server. I hope this post helped you to hide folder in Android. If you found this post useful then share it with your friends and relatives so that they can also get help. You can read more such interesting articles here.