Saying “please” and “thank you” to ChatGPT might seem harmless, but it’s contributing to OpenAI’s rising operational costs.
With every extra word requiring processing power, excessive politeness might be burning more cash than expected.
Why Every Word Counts
OpenAI’s ChatGPT works by processing “tokens,” which are chunks of text that include words, parts of words, and even punctuation.
Each time you interact with the chatbot, those tokens are analyzed, interpreted, and used to generate a response.
The more tokens you send, the more computing power is needed.
Now, imagine millions of users typing long, polite prompts like:
“Hi ChatGPT, can you please help me with this? Thanks so much!”
That single sentence contains several tokens that aren’t essential to the core task — and when multiplied across millions of daily users, they contribute significantly to server load and operational expenses.
How Politeness Impacts OpenAI’s Costs
According to reports, OpenAI spends millions annually just to process polite phrases like “thank you” and “please.”
These aren’t just aesthetic touches — they increase token usage, which in turn raises the cost of computation.
Given the sheer volume of queries ChatGPT handles, this seemingly minor detail becomes a big-ticket item.
Efficiency vs. Etiquette
The tension between being polite and being efficient is more than just philosophical — it’s now computational.
While polite language creates more natural and human-like conversations, it also requires more server capacity and energy.
For personal users, this might not seem like a big deal.
But for enterprise-level applications and high-frequency users, these costs can add up quickly.
What Can Users Do?
You don’t have to start talking to ChatGPT like a robot.
But being more concise and direct can help reduce token usage — which benefits both OpenAI and the environment, considering the energy it takes to run these large-scale models.
Here are a few tips:
- Be clear and concise. Instead of “Can you please help me with writing a cover letter for a job application?” just type “Write a cover letter for a job application.”
- Cut out filler words. Phrases like “I hope you’re doing well” and “Thanks in advance” are polite but not necessary.
- Save the pleasantries for humans. ChatGPT won’t feel bad if you skip the “thank you.”
Conclusion
Politeness isn’t bad — in fact, it has helped make ChatGPT interactions more comfortable and relatable.
But as OpenAI looks to manage resources and scale responsibly, even small changes in how users interact can have a big impact.
So the next time you chat with ChatGPT, remember: short and sweet isn’t rude — it’s efficient.