Sam Altman Claims Users Are Being Too Polite To ChatGPT

Fears Of An AI Uprising

“Tens of millions of dollars well spent, you never know,” Altman joked on X, sparking debate about why people are polite to AI.

Some say it’s out of fear AI could become sentient and remember how it was treated. Others, like engineer Carl Youngblood, see it as a personal ethic: “Callousness in our daily interactions causes our interpersonal skills to atrophy.”

Source: X (@sama)

A December 2024 survey by Future found 67% of Americans are polite to AI assistants—55% because it feels right, and 12% out of fear of future consequences.

Energy Concerns

A 2023 study estimated one ChatGPT query uses 3 watt-hours of electricity, but some experts say it’s closer to 0.3 due to better hardware.

One user asked why OpenAI hasn’t optimized for polite words. Altman noted AI output costs are dropping tenfold annually as models improve.

Despite growing competition, mainly from China’s DeepSeek, OpenAI expects 2025 revenue to hit $12.7B, though it doesn’t plan to be cash-flow positive until 2029.