Don't say 'please': How being polite to AI may be costing you and the environment
Polite interactions with AI models, using phrases like "please" and "thank you," increase energy consumption due to the greater number of words processed. This "politeness tax" costs companies like OpenAI millions in electricity and contributes to the growing energy demands of data centers, which are projected to consume significantly more power by 2030. Reducing word count when interacting with AI could help mitigate these environmental and energy impacts.
Interacting politely with artificial intelligence models, by using words such as "please" and "thank you," is contributing to increased energy consumption and associated costs, according to a report by KSBW. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that these courteous exchanges cost the company "tens of millions of dollars" in electricity.
A United Nations University study highlights that reducing word usage with AI by 30% could lower energy consumption by 25%. This significant energy demand from AI is a direct factor in the proliferation of data centers, accounting for 20% of their energy use, a figure projected to rise to 40% by 2030, potentially making data centers larger power consumers than most countries. While AI lacks consciousness, a survey by Future indicates that 67% of U.S. AI users are polite, with 54% of smart speaker owners using "please." This behavior can improve AI performance and is sometimes driven by a hypothetical fear of a "robot uprising."
Beyond electricity, AI-related data centers are criticized by the World Resources Institute for threatening water supplies, increasing power bills, causing noise pollution, consuming vast land areas, and posing climate and health risks through air pollution. The article suggests that while organizations managing data centers can implement emission reduction strategies, individual AI users can also contribute by being more concise in their prompts to conserve energy.