Sam Altman says he said “please” improves answers, but increases spending on server energy
OpenAi CEO Sam Altman said that being educated with ChatgPT has a high cost to the company. According to him, saying “please” and “thank you” can generate “Dozens of millions of dollars” in electricity expenses.
The statement was made in response to an X (former Twitter) user, who questioned Altman about the costs generated by expressions of kindness in the use of AI. The Executive answered on April 16, 2025: “Tens of millions of dollars well spent. You never know”.
It is true that the increase in volume and the complexity of interactions increases the use of servers and, consequently, the consumption of electricity. , the computational cost is related to the size of the prompt and the response.
In addition, the growing use of AI pressures water resources. A Chilean court that Google reviews its data center project in Santiago for risks to the city’s aquifer. By 2022, Google centers consumed almost 20 billion liters of water for cooling.
Already the chatgpt. On March 31, the platform reached 1 million new users in just one hour, according to Altman.
OpenAi too. The company develops a social network with AI integration to compete with X. In the early stages, the project must use image generation in an interactive feed.
