⚖️ AI Ethics

Polite to Alexa? Readers Spill the Truth

Do you thank your toaster? Guardian readers roast the idea of politeness to voice assistants. But here's the cynical truth: it's all about you, not the machine.

theAIcatchup Apr 24, 2026 3 min read
Person speaking politely to smart speaker like Alexa, with skeptical expression

⚡ Key Takeaways

  • Politeness to AIs trains your habits more than the machine. 𝕏
  • Extra words waste massive energy in data centers. 𝕏
  • Corporate giants profit from your emotional investment. 𝕏
Written by

Sarah Chen

AI research editor covering LLMs, benchmarks, and the race between frontier labs. Previously at MIT CSAIL.

#AI energy costs #AI energy use #AI energy waste #AI habits #AI politeness #human-AI interaction #politeness to AI #voice assistants

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Originally reported by The Guardian - AI

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