OpenAI is reportedly spending tens of millions of dollars annually to maintain ChatGPT’s friendly and polite tone — including everyday niceties like “please,” “thank you,” and “you’re welcome.”
According to a Tom’s Hardware report citing internal sources, this effort comes with surprisingly high operational costs. Each seemingly simple polite response consumes data center resources — with a single reply estimated to use around 40–50 milliliters of water and significant energy. Despite these costs, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes the investment is worth it, arguing that politeness helps make AI interactions feel more human and approachable.
The company has considered using templated replies to reduce resource usage, but fears doing so could make the chatbot feel robotic and less engaging.
Experts from OpenAI and MIT caution that overly human-like AI behavior may encourage users to form emotional attachments, leading to potential overdependence.
Still, the cost of AI courtesy is already baked into ChatGPT’s subscription model, and OpenAI has no immediate plans to change its tone. For now, the chatbot will continue to say “thanks” — no matter the price.
