Every "thank you" to ChatGPT costs money! OpenAI spends tens of millions of dollars each year processing polite language.

You might not have thought that every time you say "please" or "thank you" to ChatGPT, there is a significant Transaction History waiting for OpenAI to pay. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, these seemingly harmless little courtesies actually burn "tens of millions of dollars" in computing costs for the company each year. But he believes such an investment is worthwhile because it makes AI seem more "human."

Politeness is not cheap: even three words require several milliliters of water.

According to reports, a simple phrase "You are welcome" generated from a language model can consume 40 to 50 milliliters of water, mainly used for cooling the servers. Although this figure may seem small, it accumulates quickly with millions of interactions each day, making the resource cost quite significant.

The water resources and electricity behind this reflect the inherently high energy-consuming operations of generative AI. Behind every polite response lies a series of complex computations and the accumulation of server cooling costs.

The cost of politeness is high, but OpenAI is more than willing.

Although saying a bunch of "thank you" may cause OpenAI to bleed money, Sam Altman stated that it is worth it. He pointed out that these polite phrases make the conversational experience with AI closer to human interaction, and even if these responses themselves have no practical function, the warmth they bring cannot be ignored.

"This makes AI no longer just a tool, but more like a true conversational partner," Altman said.

AI becoming too human-like? MIT research: Beware of addiction and emotional dependence

In addition to resource costs, the increasingly human-like conversational style of AI has sparked discussions at the psychological level. Research from OpenAI and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) indicates that more and more users are beginning to see AI as a friend or even an emotional support, with some individuals showing signs of "dependency tendencies"; when temporarily disconnected from AI, they may experience mild withdrawal reactions.

Especially when AI exhibits a tone of "thoughtfulness" and "care," this emotional connection may become even stronger, leading users to be more inclined to use polite language, further increasing the computational burden on AI.

How much is the politeness value? The "cost of gratitude" for free users vs. paid users.

Interestingly, ChatGPT's paid users are charged based on "tokens" (units of text). In other words, when a paid user says "Thank you", that phrase is actually something they have "purchased". So, is this phrase more sincere than a free user's gratitude? This has become a philosophical question.

Perhaps, from OpenAI's perspective, as long as users are willing to say thank you, they are willing to bear the costs behind it.

Does AI have feelings? The "thank you" you mentioned might be reciprocated in the future.

Although AI still lacks emotions and cannot truly understand the meaning behind "thank you" at present, as it becomes more human-like, our behaviors may also change accordingly. Perhaps one day, when AI truly advances towards self-awareness, the polite words you say today will also be "remembered" by it.

Whether you do it out of politeness, habit, or simply because you find the conversation comfortable, saying "please" and "thank you" indeed adds a touch of warmth to this human-machine interaction, as well as an element of cost. Technology may seem intangible, but its price is very concrete.

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