--- title: "Hot Take Argues Why You Should Say Please and Thank You to ChatGPT" description: "After Sam Altman bemoaned the massive costs of people saying \"please\" and \"thank you\" to ChatGPT, one columnist argues it's worth it." date: "2025-04-24" modified: "2025-04-24" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/ai-politeness-argument" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "chatbots" - "chatgpt" - "human-computer interaction" - "OpenAI" --- # Hot Take Argues Why You Should Say Please and Thank You to ChatGPT ![After Sam Altman bemoaned the massive costs of people saying "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT, one columnist argues it's worth it.]() *Two multiracial athlete friends with different skin tone holding hands as the symbol of teamwork and support. Diversity and bonding in daily activities. Concepts of cooperation, unity and friendship. Sport competitions and Summer moving activities outdoors \Image: Yana Iskayeva / Getty Images\* After OpenAI CEO Sam Altman bemoaned the [massive additional costs]() of people saying "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT, one *New York Times* reporter is making the case that it's worth the price. In a [new piece](), *NYT* culture writer Sopan Deb acknowledged that the financial and [environmental toll]() of those additional few words can be substantial — but for the sake of our humanity, it may well be worth it. With [chatbots integrating steadily into our lives](), our relationships with these technologies that pose such [existential threats to our labor]() — and perhaps [our lives]() — have never mattered more. When discussing the subject with Massachusetts Institute of Technology sociologist Sherry Turkle, the researcher said that for all the "parlor tricks" that lend them the appearance of consciousness, chatbots are "alive enough" to matter for those who use them regularly. "If an object is alive enough for us to start having intimate conversations, friendly conversations, treating it as a really important person in our lives, even though it’s not, it’s alive enough for us to show courtesy to," Turkle told Deb. Despite that caveat, the MIT sociologist and [bestselling author]() noted that chatbots don't care whether you "make dinner or commit suicide" after you step away from them. Per that line of thinking, an AI would also not "care" about how nice or rude we are to it — but there's a chance, if AI ever gains consciousness, that the situation could change. In 2014, playwright Madeleine George was [nominated for a Pulitzer]() after her play, "The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence," charmed theatergoers when presenting three distinct versions of Sherlock Holmes' trusty sidekick — including one that was an AI-powered robot. In the ensuing decade, she's [continued to muse]() on human-AI relations, and has grown to believe that we can teach it a thing or two on how to be human. To George's mind, being polite to chatbots offers them the chance to "act like a living being that shares our culture and that shares our values and that shares our mortality" — though admittedly, that framework has its drawbacks. "We’re connected. We are in a reciprocal relationship. That's why we use those pieces of language," the playwright told the *NYT*. "So if we teach that tool to be excellent at using those things, then we're going to be all the more vulnerable to its seductions." Whether acting as a shepherd for AI's burgeoning humanity or simply being kind for kindness' sake, the cost of "pleases" and "thank yous" seems way lower in context — and hey, companies like OpenAI are footing the bill anyway. **More on human-AI relationships:** [*Did Google Test an Experimental AI on Kids, With Tragic Results?*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()