Politeness toward AI: A question of digital ecology?
- barbarela48
- May 12
- 4 min read
In a world where ecological concerns now affect every aspect of our lives, including our digital practices, new, often surprising, discussions are emerging. One of these is the question of whether being "polite" to an artificial intelligence like ChatGPT could have an indirect impact on the environment. Behind the apparent absurdity of this reflection—how could a polite phrase destroy forests or inflate our carbon footprint?—lies a serious question about how our choices of interaction with AI could influence the energy consumption of digital tools. Let's explore this contemporary paradox together.
Politeness and Promptness: Where Digital Meets the Ethics of Formulation
Politeness toward an AI has, in itself, no direct impact on its "emotional state," since an AI has neither consciousness nor sentience. However, the way we structure our requests, including the addition of long-winded phrases or language flourishes, can have an indirect impact on the resources required to process them.
Let's take a concrete example: if you ask ChatGPT the question:
"Can you please explain to me in detail why volcanoes erupt?"
...this might require more computing cycles than a more targeted question like:
