Saying ‘Thank You’ to Chat GPT Uses Energy. Should You Do It Anyway?
Saying ‘Thank You’ to Chat GPT Uses Energy. Should You Do It Anyway?
Adding words to our chatbot can apparently cost tens of millions of dollars. But some fear the cost of not saying please or thank you could be higher.
Read the full article on NY Times Technology
Truth Analysis
Analysis Summary:
The article's core claim, that saying "thank you" to chatbots like ChatGPT uses significant energy and costs money, is partially supported by Verification Source #5, although the exact figures are not verifiable with the provided sources. The article also presents a counter-argument about the potential social costs of not using polite language, introducing a degree of balance, but the framing still leans towards the energy consumption issue. The article's publication date is in the future (2025), which raises concerns about its verifiability.
Detailed Analysis:
- Claim:** Saying "Thank You" to Chat GPT Uses Energy.
- Verification Source #5: Supports the general idea that saying "please" and "thank you" wastes computing power and costs money.
- However, the specific claim about "tens of millions of dollars" is not verifiable with the provided sources.
- Claim:** The cost of not saying please or thank you could be higher.
- This is a subjective claim about potential social costs.
- Verification Source #2: Supports the general idea that saying "thank you" is important in interactions.
- Verification Source #3: Shows that some users feel compelled to say "thank you" to AI.
- Claim:** Article is published in 2025.
- This is evident from the URL. This makes the article speculative and unverifiable, as it discusses events in the future.
Supporting Evidence/Contradictions:
- Verification Source #5: "Sam Altman Admits That Saying "Please" and "Thank You" to ChatGPT Is Wasting Millions of Dollars in Computing Power." This supports the idea that polite language has a computational cost.
- Verification Source #2: "You can never, ever say thank you enough." This supports the counter-argument about the importance of politeness.
- Verification Source #3: "I know AI's not sentient, but I feel weird demanding things from it." This supports the idea that people feel compelled to be polite to AI.
- The future publication date (2025) is a significant limitation, as the claims cannot be fully verified against current information.