Impact of Polite Communication with Chatbots on Energy Consumption
21 April 2025 09:32
The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, announced on social media platform X that the company incurs "tens of millions of dollars" in costs for processing polite requests. This was reported by Futurism.
While polite communication with chatbots may seem trivial, some AI experts consider it beneficial. For instance, Microsoft’s Curtis Beavers states that proper etiquette "helps generate more useful outcomes".
A survey conducted in the US at the end of 2024 revealed that 67% of respondents believe in being polite when interacting with chatbots. Among them, 55% cited doing so "because it is the right thing to do," while 12% did it to avoid potential issues with algorithms.
Although many specialists assert that a true AI revolution is still far off, user politeness may already have tangible ecological impacts.
In a study by the Washington Post in collaboration with researchers from the University of California, the energy costs of creating a 100-word email were examined. It was found that generating one email requires 0.14 kWh of electricity, enough to power 14 LED bulbs for an hour. Sending one email a week for a year totals to 7.5 kWh.
Data centers that support these chatbots currently consume about 2% of the world's energy, and this figure is only expected to grow.