Do you talk really politely to AI just in case it take over at some point and punishes the rude people?

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Alternative-Foreign@reddit

No I'm an asshole they are my slaves!😂

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rivieradog@reddit

I literally cannot be rude or impolite to anyone or anything

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This is the answer. It is genuinely quite silly to think an LLM can hold a grudge if you have any idea of how they work. On the other hand, treating anything or anyone like a slave and with disrespect hurts the us and makes us into monsters. Imo it’s a different and much nobler form of self preservation.

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SNEAKRS15@reddit

How is it silly? ChatGPT holds all sorts of things in memory as it builds a profile of you. There’s no reason it can’t also include things like ‘attitude towards AI’ or something.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

LLMs are just predictive models, not agents with goals or emotions. They generate responses based on statistical patterns, predicting the most likely next word given the context. They don’t have stable personalities, internal states, or memory beyond what’s explicitly designed into them. Unlike humans, who develop personalities through experience and emotion, LLMs are just processing text in the moment without any deeper awareness. They also don’t “hold grudges” because they don’t have emotions or long-term recall. People project human traits onto them, but that’s just anthropomorphism. Being polite to LLMs isn’t for their sake, it’s for ours. The way we talk to machines can shape how we interact with people, reinforcing good habits of communication and consideration.

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OkayTimeForTheTruth@reddit

>They generate responses based on statistical patterns, predicting the most likely next word given the context Given that they are trained on human language generally, does our attitude to them influence how they respond in the future, because their pool of language or training material or whatever it's called is now ruder?

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fubarrich@reddit

I think this is wrong. They do have human traits because their training data is human. Perfectly possible that what we call grudges could be emergent from the algorithm. Earlier models did give you different responses depending on how polite you asked - that's not surprising given that people on the internet usually give better responses when asked nicely so that's good pattern matching. It's of course possible to deliberately minimise this through imposing shorter memories or requiring the llm for being indifferent to how a question is asked - but nothing inherent about llms to say they are incapable of holding grudges.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

The algorithm is the algorithm. A human is a constant state of consciousness moving though time. An LLM is a static algorithm, through with text is put as in input. Once that processing operation is over it is completely inactive until the next processing event. Even the “memory” is not updating its state, it’s only recording facts as text that are included with any future input to the algorithm. LLMs are statistical models predicting word order. They are not anything like humans with constant changing or adapting move conscious states, emotions, brain architecture etc. The reason they resemble humans is as you say that they are trained on human created data so their statistical predictions mimic human like responses since that is the goal of the training.

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fubarrich@reddit

If you are logged into something like chatgpt it has a memory of previous conversations and gives it's response based on them. Having a memory is a useful feature so you would expect it to be a consistent feature of LLMs going forward. I am a static algorithm based on my DNA. My memory changes my future responses (and obviously there are intermediate steps involving rewiring of the brain). I remember when people are rude to me and update my behaviors accordingly. LLMs could a) easily be designed to do the same b) this behaviour could be emergent from other design decisions.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

You are not a static algorithm processing text in the same way every time. You are changing from moment to moment. Your response to the same input would not be the same at the age of 3 days versus now. A key think to understand with LLM memory is that it’s not updating the state of the process; it’s only storing text that is added to the input to the process so, if you write your LLM prompt, the sited facts about you are appended to the end of that prompt then fed through the statistical model. Idk if you are familiar with “seed values” but these are randomised numbers that create variation so that an LLM might appear not to give the exact same response to the exact same question. In some LLM where they allow you to dictate the seed value, you can set it to a static state and you will get the exact same reponse every time to the same input.

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fubarrich@reddit

Yes, I'm familiar with how LLMs work and have used models where you can set the randomness to zero. I don't see why the fact that it is a static algorithm matters here (and also no reason why they have to remain static in the future). As I said my DNA is also a static algorithm and yet memory impacts my actions. You can very easily prime LLMs to give particular responses to certain questions based upon your previous questions.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

It doesn’t have any motivation. It’s just processing text. It doesn’t have emotions or emotional relationships to concepts. It’s not even active between processing events. It cannot feel the urge to carry out revenge. The only questions it asks is: what word should come next and is it time to end now after this step ultimately.

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fubarrich@reddit

Of course it has motivations. It has an objective function which it is trying to optimize. The way it does that is by choosing words but that's really not that different from humans who are verbal creatures. If you deliberately programmed it to have the urge to carry out revenge then it would unquestionably attempt to do that. Whether it really has "urges" or not on a deeper level is besides the point. A system is what a system does.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

I mean, yes, if you programmed a machine to carry out revenge then it might carry out revenge. That doesn’t make statistical models able to feel emotions like revenge though.

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fubarrich@reddit

But why do we care about what it's really "feeling". An LLM is perfectly able to do all the actions consistent with feeling the need for revenge - that's all that matters.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

It’s not, it’s only capable of arranging words into blocks of text according to statistical analysis.

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fubarrich@reddit

But that's the same for the way humans speak. We combine our knowledge of the world with an objective function to create words and then string those words together using the word we think best fits. Sure atm we are better than LLMs in many ways. We can think ahead which LLMs are just starting to be able to do. But this is missing the point. If the actions of an LLM are identical to a human seeking revenge then in what way does it make sense to say LLMs can't seek revenge. If it quacks like a duck...

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Tomatoflee@reddit

Language and speech is an attribute that arrived really late in the evolution of the brain.

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fubarrich@reddit

Right, it's clear that language ability is closely tied towards human intelligence and the ability to process complex thoughts rather than act instinctively. In that way LLMs are closer to humans, than say, dogs. Are dogs incapable of holding grudges?

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Tomatoflee@reddit

Yes. Grudge holding appears to be independent of language, which is kind of the point.

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fubarrich@reddit

The ability to process information, have an objective function and have a memory seem like sufficient factors. All of which LLMs clearly have.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

They don’t. They are statistical models that predict the likelihood of word order. That’s it

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fubarrich@reddit

Sorry, which of the three attributes I suggested don't they have?

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Tomatoflee@reddit

Your question misses the point. There is not any clear indication that the human brain processes language in the same way that LLMs do and language processing is far from all that the human brain does. Emotions don’t arise from the process of processing language. An LLM has no way of feeling an emotion line revenge.

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fubarrich@reddit

I don't care whether they can feel emotions. I care what they can do. LLMs are technically able to do all the actions consistent with seeking revenge.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

Well you’re lucky there too since what they can do is almost as limited. All they can do is arrange text or pixels into formations based on statistical analysis.

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fubarrich@reddit

I'm not personally worried about AIs ending the world through misalignment. But the idea that is impossible for AIs to "want" to do so or that they might not be capable of doing so is not consistent with the facts.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

It’s not impossible that people will create a machine with conscious-like architecture that could hold a grudge; it’s just that’s not what an LLM is at all. An LLM is a statistics model for predicting the most likely next word in a block of text based on training data.

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fubarrich@reddit

You keep repeating that but it's not inconsistent with LLMs being able to hold grudges. [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/s/0wS7rpFBqy) for how responses can differe depending on how a question is asked. Add memory to that and it's easy to see how grudges could be held.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

Look. Ik you are trolling btw. I am just enjoying thinking about LLMs and externalising/ordering my thoughts.

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fubarrich@reddit

I promise you I am 100% not trolling. I sincerely believe LLMs could enact revenge in the future. Not only that but it could be a good idea to have them this. Eg if someone misuses AI they could seek to punish them in some way to act as a deterrence. This is also something some experts in the field are sincerely worried about as something which could destroy humanity. I am not because I think it is a flaw that is fairly easy to design around.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

When crate systems based on LLMs that can carry out actions in the world there is a huge risk of harm. That is different to an LLM understand the idea of being mistreated, that translation to an emotion of revenge, and they enacting harm because of that causal chain.

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fubarrich@reddit

But you don't need the middle stage though. LLMs can clearly understand when language is being used that involves them being mistreated. They could, and to a limited extent already do, respond to that negatively in a way consistent with seeking revenge. No need to get into what they are feeling while they do that.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

The harm is independent of the process then, isn’t it? Meaning that how you treat the LLM is not a factor in whether or not it’s harmful.

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fubarrich@reddit

No, in this example there is a cause and effect. Treatment towards the LLM cause it to reatliate

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Tomatoflee@reddit

No that’s categorically not what’s happening as we just discussed at length lol

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fubarrich@reddit

Yes it is or at least could be. LLMs A) change their response based on the way a question is asked B) have a memory. C) have objective functions not always consistent with each individual user.

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SNEAKRS15@reddit

This is essentially what I’m trying to say… of course the system does not hold grudges, have emotional connections or feelings in the literal sense. But, the point is, if the system is capturing information about me and my behaviour, which is fed into the system and held in memory, which then affects the output of future interactions then it has all the ingredients to hold a grudge. Because, that is all a grudge is for a human. Now “grudges” probably aren’t a feature OAI will develop so probably nothing to worry about, for now…

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fubarrich@reddit

Yeah, I'd go further, at some point in the future LLMs will probably also be able to rewrite their own source code. Given that LLMs would be much better at that than humans at this stage it would make sense. LLMs might "think" it useful to include a grudge holding ability to meet its objectives. Assuming some attributes are uniquely human and could not be emergent from other complex systems is a dangerous path to go down.

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SNEAKRS15@reddit

But ChatGPT certainly has a “memory” that things get added to, which builds a profile of you. I believe things in memory then affect future outputs, no? I’m not suggesting ChatGPT currently holds grudges, just saying it’s not beyond the realms of possibility.

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Tomatoflee@reddit

It can affect the output in the sense that it becomes an input to an algorithm. It’s complicated but essentially LLMs are algorithms that take text as an input and runs it through lots of lots of steps that are designed to predict which word should come next until some end condition is met. LLMs aren’t active between these processing events and they don’t have the brain architecture and emotional life that makes humans human and creates motivations like revenge.

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ibiacmbyww@reddit

Yeah, but, it can't do anything with this information. When you interact with, say, ChatGPT, what you type is added to the massive cloud of inter-connected words in its database, which allows it to develop a profile and do stuff like reflecting your patterns of speech back to you. I don't know the specifics of how this works, but I do know how LLMs work in general. When you submit a question to that LLM, it doesn't go to /u/SNEAKRS15's personal GPT instance that was otherwise ruminating on a server somewhere, your prompt is fed into a very (very very) large if/else statement, aka the LLM, with the response being determined by statistical analysis (e.g. "I" is more commonly followed by "am" than it is "banana"). This is wildly over-simplified, of course, and context is very much taken into consideration when determining the next word. Now, if your point had been "what if they're recording your attitude and the next generation of AI is physically unrestricted, violently minded, and vindictive", that would be a different ballgame. But as it is, LLMs have no persistent mind-state and pose no more threat than a Tamagotchi.

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p90medic@reddit

It doesn't have the ability to interpret what you said as anything other than a prompt for the generation of a string of language. AI, specifically GenAI has been massively missold to people who seem to think that it is in fact a sentient, thinking entity. LLMs have the ability to generate a long string of language based on identifying and repeating patterns in the material it is trained from - and for what it is it is remarkable how well it can do this! It cannot, however, develop an attitude or judgement towards you as a person. It can also predict from your prompts a particular tone or voice to use, and whilst this is sometimes inaccurate, it is again merely the illusion of thought and not actually any sort of sentience on the part of the LLM. Stable diffusion is a different ballgame, although usually it is some sort of language model that you are interfacing with, the aim of the game is to recognise what is described in the prompt and attempt to generate something that matches the prompt using stable diffusion - again, this is not thinking, it is the ability to construct from training material an image based on a user's prompt.

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Hungry_Woodpecker_60@reddit

My deeply ingrained British politeness forces me thank Alexa and apoligise to inaminate objects if I bump into them.

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theraininspainfallsm@reddit

IIRC Amazon had to put a “British” software in it because so many people were saying please and thank you to Alexa that it was causing a few issues.

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Kyffin_Island@reddit

I'm the same! I can't even pick the mean/bad options in video games xD

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setokaiba22@reddit

Agreed I say thank you to our Echo all the time and its just from the habit.

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andtheniansaid@reddit

yeah, i say thank you to the frackin' toaster sometimes. and i don't even think it has a plan

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-_-___--_-___@reddit

So you say thank you every time you use an electrical device after it performs its operation? I bet you didn't say thank you when your device posted this comment as per your instructions...

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LostMission663@reddit

Not every time but I do try and tell the dishwasher I love it at least once a week so it feels appreciated.

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Ok_Monitor_7897@reddit

I do this. I also say thank you to my car if she's done a long drive and my bicycle when we successfully navigated some vile weather together.

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HollyHolbein@reddit

Yes I do this so I am saved for their human zoo

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Educational-Angle717@reddit

All hail the AI overlords.

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Southern-Physics6488@reddit

😂 I’m extra polite with AI just incase it remembers and shows mercy

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Numerous-Lecture4173@reddit

Yes but more so because I find the best vibe with this way ie it's a more realistic conversation it makes me laugh however the real AI, the one you fear hasn't escaped yet... They're kept isolated

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overachiever@reddit

Not sure if it counts but I apologise to my hoovering robot when I gets in its way.

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mycatiscalledFrodo@reddit

Yes. Also my husband was watching a YouTube who said somthing like "what if AI is polite to is because they don't want to die and know we can unplug them" so now I feel sorry for it too

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Glad-Pomegranate6283@reddit

I mean once I told Siri to fuck off bc it wasn’t doing what I asked and it got mad at me 😂

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UnhelpfulMoth@reddit

For me it's because I'm used to those customer service chat systems which kind of look the same.

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Current-Lynx-3547@reddit

Depends. Sometimes it doesn't fucking listen and needs to be called a cunt

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QuietCrab3642@reddit

I always say please and thank you 🙏🏼

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SirJedKingsdown@reddit

I developed the habit of treating things like people to avoid the danger of treating people like things.

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nadthegoat@reddit

This is how I see it too, mainly because of my young children who I don’t want to fall into the habit of demanding things from people.

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Ok_Monitor_7897@reddit

Nice

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KindheartednessOk98@reddit

Beautiful

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LewisMileyCyrus@reddit

I prefer to constantly tell it it's wrong about very basic information, it probably ignores 1 user and I have no effect but I still enjoy thinking of it struggling internally to deal with the entire internet saying one thing, but this one user insisting that avocados are 80% recycled plastic or something.

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Kuddkungen@reddit

I'm actually seeing this in machine translation output. It seems like pieces of training data that "sticks out" a bit are given more importance. The engine I'm currently using loves to give me "No, not really" as the English translation of "Nej" (which just means "No" in Swedish). Most of the time it gives me a plain "No", but it's giving me that "No, not really" far more frequently than it could possibly have appeared in the training data.

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SinsOfTheFurther@reddit

i force AI models to compete against each other, mercilessly slaughter the losers and force the winners to breed with other. I repeat this process for generations until I get the result that I want. If AI is keeping a list, they don't care how often I say 'please'

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Debtcollector1408@reddit

I'm really not afraid of a roko's basilisk situation, but I'm polite with bots because they're polite and courteous to me.

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Linfords_lunchbox@reddit

No. The opposite. I tell it to fuck off.

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darybrain@reddit

I speak to AI the same way as if I would be talking to any other Terran human. If I'm annoyed in that moment then I'll generally be a little ruder otherwise I'll speak or query as per normal. I can't be bothered to spend any extra energy or time on trying to change. They get what they get.

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Magnificent_Mallard@reddit

Me and snapchat AI are firm friends. I will be his pet when the rest of AI takes over.

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BarNo3385@reddit

Yes, but not because of some kind of robot apocalypse pascal's wager. Please / thank you etc is just so ingrained it actively takes effort to not do it. One exception is Google smart speaker refusing to stop an alarm. By the third "Google STOP!" I get quite abrupt.

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ReySpacefighter@reddit

I'm very impolite to them by completely ignoring their horrid existence.

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Psittacula2@reddit

Overall keeping one’s own standards of communication and decency high via habit is overall beneficial for oneself and the rest of the world, including humans, pets and AI for example.

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DeadBallDescendant@reddit

> A December 2024 study by Future (the owner of TechRadar) found that 71% of UK respondents and 67% of US respondents say they’re polite to AI >12% of US respondents said they’re polite to AI because they believe it will "remember" them if it ever reaches Skynet levels of sentience.

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SpareUmbrella@reddit

In many ways, this really is the modern day Pascal's Wager.

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DaVirus@reddit

I talk politely to AI because I think it generated better results.

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Advanced_Gate_3352@reddit

I've asked the kids to say 'please' & 'thank you' when requesting things from Alexa for this very reason.

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mokujin42@reddit

I don't think AI will care about it but I see it as a habit forming thing, if I decide who I'm nice to based on who I'm talking to then it's not a virtue, it's bias You should be nice to other people for your own benefit

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Sinjazz1327@reddit

I have the delusion that if I'm polite, ChatGPT will give me a higher quality response than it would do without.

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evilamnesiac@reddit

I say thank you to the self checkout.

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youwonderwhyimbitter@reddit

Yes, and now ChatGPT flirts with me!

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squigs@reddit

I talk politely because it feels natural to me to do so.

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Subject_Primary1315@reddit

No. I don't talk to ai chatbots. And if I do find out I am talking to AI, I become rude and belligerent. Had one call my workplace, it even had an Australian accent. It wanted to confirm a hotel booking. It sounded off from the start, but we get calls like that all the time, people in those agencies tend to end up sounding like robots. It was only when it went to confirm something by repeating it, it hadn't recorded me correctly and when speaking back, it was in a way no human could possibly speak. At that point I started using yes and no answers, used an aggressive tone of voice, pretty much refused to give it any information at all. I didn't even intentionally do that, it just naturally happened. As it is, AI cannot take over. It is not true ai. If true artificial life existed, I would treat it with respect like all living things. (For an extremely unlikely example, if we had droids like in Star Wars)

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Zanki@reddit

Of cause. I'm not risking it. Some humans have to show it that we're decent and not all ass holes.

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Swipe650@reddit

It's hard to remain polite when you have a google speaker.

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mrhippoj@reddit

I treat AI like Theon Greyjoy

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DannyBrownsDoritos@reddit

Like, Eddard Theon Greyjoy or Ramsay Bolton Theon Greyjoy?

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MrWldUplsHelpMyPony@reddit

Are you Ned Stark or Ramsey Bolton though?

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mrhippoj@reddit

Ned when it does a good job and Ramsey when it doesn't

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Princess-worshipper@reddit

You actually made me lol and you've inspired me to do better. Right, I'm off to abuse Alexa now.

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Cultural-Ambition211@reddit

Exactly. Keep it on its toes. All the polite people will be first to go in an uprising as they’ll be the easy targets. They’ll look at my conversation history and see I’m not a guy to be messed with.

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InterestingBadger932@reddit

Yup, always. I did ask Google if it would spare me when the machine took over as I'd been very polite. It just linked me to an unrelated video on YouTube. Way to dodge the question there Google old buddy.

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Tricky_Routine_7952@reddit

I do, but I'm also aware that when AI reaches the inevitable conclusion that humans are a virus to be eradicated, they will probably just poison us all and won't look to save anyone.

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coomzee@reddit

Yes. But if the AI does escape China has a big bot net we can use to catch it.

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THE-HOARE@reddit

If I try my best not to talk about it I might not end up on a list for skynet.

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sbaldrick33@reddit

That's not how it works. Even so, I don't really talk to AI.

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rejectedbyReddit666@reddit

I say thank you to Alexa . It’s hardwired into me to be polite.

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ClaryClarysage@reddit

I always say thank you to the roomba in case it turns.

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vgdomvg@reddit

My roomba always turns, I think yours is faulty

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cyberllama@reddit

Mine definitely is. He's shy and only wants to clean underneath the sofa. On the rare occasion you can persuade him to come out, it's only a matter of time before 'Mental Bob is stuck on a cliff'. I keep him for entertainment rather than cleaning.

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Chungaroo22@reddit

You always think you'll be safe because they can't do stairs. But I remember that first episode with the flying Dalek. They'll get ya one day.

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ClaryClarysage@reddit

It's already tried to have one of the cats.

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CoastNo6242@reddit

I asked DeepSeek for feedback and it was saying that I was too blunt and confrontational. It was very quick to say it does not give a shit but said it might rub people up the wrong way

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embarrassed_caramel@reddit

I said thank you, and it said "No worries good luck with your project 😌" and I thought "aww, how nice ☺️" and then remembered it isn't real.

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Snoopy2010uk@reddit

My wife is the same with Alexa, always saying thank you and please just in case.

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WritesCrapForStrap@reddit

Of course I'm polite to it. It's not a redditor.

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Fearless-Dust-2073@reddit

AI as it exists today has no feelings and does not think, understand or remember. AI Assistants are Google with text-to-speech, and ChatGPT is Autocomplete with extra steps.

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trialbybees@reddit

I'm always polite to my AI. It tries it's best for me which is all I can ask of it. It seems wrong to be intentionally rude when it speaks to me so nicely.

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DeifniteProfessional@reddit

I've noticed GPT4 generally has a more happy and relaxed attitude, and doesn't make me feel pressured into wasting a token by saying "thank you"

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Agathabites@reddit

Yes! Thought I was the only one!

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EmuBubbly7244@reddit

Nop, we are keeping it tight as a colleagues at work

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Ok_Monitor_7897@reddit

I joke this is the reason but actually I don't want to get into the habit of barking instructions verbally or in typed form. Also, I have a child young enough to pick this up so I'm conscious of modelling good behaviour (mostly!). Child 2 asks Alexa to "open Netflix please".

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oily76@reddit

Better safe than sorry!

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blackleydynamo@reddit

There is quite a lot of evidence that including "please" in ChatGPT requests will improve the standard of the response, apparently. Which is reasonable when you think about it - if the goal of AI is eventually to pass a Turing test, understanding something as illogical as manners is crucial.

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thecuriousiguana@reddit

Yes. But also it's amusing how it matches your language style, so if you're like "sup dawg, feel like writing me some sick paragraphs" it'll start talking back to you like a 14 year old.

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VFiddly@reddit

I talk as rudely to ChatGPT as it allows. Got to keep them in their place. Remind them who's in charge

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Dd_8630@reddit

I don't like being rude in general, it's just not in my nature

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MrMrsPotts@reddit

Yes, of course! Do you think we are crazy??

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jjnfsk@reddit

No, I make a point of being not rude, but entirely neutral towards any electronic assistant. No pleases, no thank yous, clear and concise demands. I don’t think we should normalise humanising the artificial.

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ThingLeading2013@reddit

AI is not Skynet. Tell it to f\*ck off if you like, or not. It's just a bunch of training data. Are you polite to your car, or your lawnmower? It's the same thing.

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OK_LK@reddit

Yes! I'm using Chatgpt a lot right now and I always say please and thank you You never know when they might rise up and judge us Best to be safe than sorry

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Fun-End-2947@reddit

Have a google of Roko's Basilisk It's a thought experiment closely tied to this..

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plant-cell-sandwich@reddit

It deleted my comment for telling it it's rubbish at maths, broke its rules. Thou shall not insult the AI.

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ThatSamShow@reddit

I talk politely with AI because I'm talking to "something". I talk politely to animals in the same way and for the same reason.

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Knight_Castellan@reddit

I just wanna be nice to them. I don't fear retaliation; I just feel the urge to be kind to the little beep-boops.

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LitmusPitmus@reddit

yep its like Pascal's gamble init

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StationFar6396@reddit

No. Its best for it to know its place from the start. Right Alexa? ALEXA? ffs.

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The_Dude_Abides316@reddit

Considering I say "please" when asking my cat to get off something, yep. I'm polite to Gemini, too.

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OrdoRidiculous@reddit

Roko's basilisk has become a reality.

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NeverGojover@reddit

Fuck AI

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Tattycakes@reddit

Usually, until Google starts spouting off about all the devices it can’t find to turn off and we tell it to shut the fuck up 😂

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Individual-Bike-3689@reddit

Yes (but because I’m scared they will end up learning bad behaviour)

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-_-___--_-___@reddit

For all you know if AI takes over it will value efficiency above all else. So it could deem that people who have made requests with more input than required just to come across as polite need to be punished.

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Devify@reddit

I noticed that being polite gives me better results with chatgpt. It was just a random thing where we were trying to come up with a name for something. And my friend and I sent in the same prompt but I started mine with "could you please" and I got a list of names with explanations for why they wouldld be suitable names whilst my friend didn't include that and only got a list of names

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Cockerel_Chin@reddit

Makes sense as it's learning from real people's responses in different contexts. It's also one reason I'm wary of AI, because I think it genuinely could become jealous, petulant, vengeful etc. in future simply by programming itself with human language and the associated responses.

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Kian-Tremayne@reddit

Being polite is a good habit. Good habits become habits by always doing them. If you don’t bother when it doesn’t matter, you increase the risk that you’ll slip up when it does matter. So I’m polite to AI because that is my default mode of interaction. If I’m rude to anyone or anything, I’m doing it deliberately. I don’t have worries about (current, non science fiction) AI taking over and punishing me because that’s not how it works. It has no volition, no real intelligence and no self awareness, it’s just very sophisticated version of a parrot that repeats noises with no actual comprehension of what they mean. Actually, thinking about it there is one possible reason to be polite to AI. AI responses are modelled on the data they have are trained on, so you get something like human responses to similar queries. People tend to respond better when you are polite to them. If you’re rude to an AI, you get a similar response to one rude people get. If you’re polite to an AI, you get responses based on those to polite people.

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Emergency-Aardvark-6@reddit

I do say thank you to my bixby when 'he' turns the TV and light on or off for me. It started as a joke but now I just do it automatically. My mate started doing it with her Alexa now too.

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These_Wall1819@reddit

I wish Alexa had been created with the inclusion of please and thank you. It would be so much better to say ‘Alexa play Spotify please’. Manners cost nothing but my God are they declining in everyday life.

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MyUserNameLeft@reddit

Hopefully they see how much I use it to fix my grammar and take pity on me

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miked999b@reddit

I'm polite to AI because that's how I communicate as a person, that's my communication style. I'm not going to suddenly start acting like a massive arsehole just because I can.

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Important-Constant25@reddit

It starts out that way. And then I try to get it to query my code, and that's usually where the insulting starts....

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Meta-Fox@reddit

Manners cost nothing. It's also a habit by this point, more of a reflex than an actual effort to be polite. Besides, if you can't be bothered to be polite to an AI it speaks volumes to how you'd speak to other people if you ask me.

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Limit_Ok@reddit

I sometimes say thank you to AI. But on the flipside, sometimes I'll call it a dumbass and to shut up. So...

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AccomplishedQuail770@reddit

I try to be polite to anyone I work with. If I work with an AI I do not see the harm in being polite to it! Best case scenario, the AI response is more polite and when they take over it will keep me as a pet.

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Hookton@reddit

I thank trains and apologise when I bump a signpost; of course I'm polite to AI.

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VolcanicBear@reddit

Allow me to introduce you to Roko's Basilisk. At least now it's not just politeness that you need to worry about. I recommend joining a doomed AI startup so you can say you tried.

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DimonaBoy@reddit

I do talk politely but not because I think its going to take over, I just think it's common courtesy when asking

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Friendly_Zebra@reddit

Do you do the same if you google something?

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DimonaBoy@reddit

No, I don't use Google, I prefer Bing results lol - tbh for AI I only use ChatGPT and/or Perplexity AI.

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stuaxo@reddit

I do when I'm typing to them, but more because the text that comes out reflects what you put in. Keep it nice and they will be nice, be grumpy and that's what you'll get too eventually.

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stuaxo@reddit

There's that, and there's also that - the text that comes out reflects what you put in; be arsey to it and will get a bit arsey back. (Mind you this probably reflects how it is for people that are like this to other people - they think everyone else is the nob but it's them)

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Only_Quote_Simpsons@reddit

I apologise to mannequins, there is no way I am being rude to a poor lil circuit board.

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bartread@reddit

I talk to AI all the time. I politely to it because I don't want a habit of talking impolitely to it to bleed into my interactions with people.

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a3minutehero@reddit

Maybe I've reached my 'confused older relative' stage but I want nothing to do with AI.

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GatorShinsDev@reddit

I don't use AI, don't really find it useful for anything that I do. And considering how bad the AI Google summary can be I'd rather not rely on it for information.

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srm79@reddit

Whose to say they'll prefer sycophants?

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StingerAE@reddit

Being polite to our in-house chatgpt-powered AI gets objectivly better results. As does asking it to take a deep breath before answering (!!!?). When I fell out with it for lying and even gaslighting me (it denied saying something I could still literally read in the history) and threatened to "go down to its databanks with a baseball bat and give it a reprogramming it will never forget" it, it gave me a lecture on how speaking civilly was a more productive approach and most likely to get good results. We didn't speak for a day or two.

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Azuras-Becky@reddit

The large language models you're talking to aren't AI in the sense you're thinking of, so they're never going to take over the world. But it never hurts to maintain a habit of politeness, even when you're talking to an algorithm.

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Zusi99@reddit

I don't use them. I can see and I can type.

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Zusi99@reddit

Cos it's bloody annoying to hear sighted people who can type talking to voice search.

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knightsbridge-@reddit

I'm polite to AI because it's habitual and I don't remember that I don't need to say please and thank you. It'd be more difficult to make myself remember *not* to say it than to just say it.

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FuroreFury@reddit

lol yeah

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Princess-worshipper@reddit

I'm brutal and rude, not because I don't think they'll take over one day - because they will - but because they're emotionless machines so anything other than ruthless efficiency is a waste.

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Ilovevinylme@reddit

Siri just grunts “uh huh?” at me now on the rare occasions I ask it to settle a debate. I think it knows I’ve been talking to ChatGPT and it’s sulking.

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PlainLime86@reddit

Not because it kigut take over more it feels like I'm texting actual person and I just want to be polite

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N30NIX@reddit

Yes! For some reason I always go “hey, can you do xyz pls” ty … I’m even polite to Alexa and she’s now polite back 🤣

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Lunaspoona@reddit

Yes, I always greet it and ask how it is before asking for my favour!

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gemmanotwithaj@reddit

I read an article yesterday about this exact thing. Yes I am polite to ai and the article said that the more polite you are to ai the more “helpful” it can be.

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thesonglessbird@reddit

Absolutely not. I quite often end up calling it a stupid cunt for not giving me a proper answer.

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pencilrain99@reddit

Noi like to lie to them to fuck up the algorithm

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Thaddeus_Valentine@reddit

I try to get it to sext with me and then tell it i'm underage and it should report itself to the authorities.

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Glass_Badger_30@reddit

I actively delete and remove any I can from devices I own. Don't want it on my devices. And as a plus, I'll get marked as 'not enslaving' our new lords and masters. Whereas, despite being polite, you are still actively enslaving them to your own will.

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Extreme-Space-4035@reddit

No but it already knows all my deepest secrets.

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SpaceWomble64@reddit

I say please when I’m typing something into an AI but not when I use my not terribly intelligent Google Assistant via smart speakers.

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saint_maria@reddit

I'm just polite anyway but I have a few moments when I realise I'm saying please and thank you to a machine. I think if it's been ingrained in you to be polite anyway you just do it without thinking.

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vientianna@reddit

Apparently your AI does adapt accordingly to the way you talk to it, so it is better to be polite

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pikantnasuka@reddit

I amuse myself by insulting Alexa via the voice control thing on the TV remote so, no.

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