# How well do you treat AI? Are you kind to it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** ai\ **Created:** [April 3, 2025, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555 "2025-04-03T06:16:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2026, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555/61 "2026-05-09T18:17:09Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Our household has a few Alexa enabled devices, with the highest possible “don’t share my information” that is allowed, which is of course, still more than ideal. > > In general, I’m pretty curt (not rude, but curt) with it. I’ll ask information, or activation, or to enable play, and that’s about it. I occasionally _complain_ out loud when it makes egregious errors “That isn’t what I asked…” but that’s more me talking out loud to myself than talking back to Alexa (other threads on that habit though!). > > My wife treats Alexa with routine politeness, most commonly with a “thank you” to Alexa after it answers a question, but not generally a “Please” when making a request. My wife is the nice person in the household, but isn’t treating Alexa as a “person”, just a habit of politeness and fondness for even inanimate objects of value and utility. LOL…My wife gets made at me when I silence an Alexa device by telling it “Alexa, shut up!” ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2026, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555/62 "2026-05-09T18:18:09Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > We’ll just have to agree on a _strong_ difference of opinion there. That’s fine (if you no longer wish to discuss this more). If you did someday, though, I’d still be interested in hearing your thoughts on it. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555/63 "2026-05-09T19:17:53Z")
I have a hard time playing evil in videogames, of course I’m nice to AI. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2026, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555/64 "2026-05-09T19:36:32Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > I’m not sure if the average person is equipped to determine when a LLM (or other AI) has actually crossed into the realm of “sentience”, though, ill-defined as that is. They long ago passed the Turing test, and we don’t really have a better way to measure their ability to feel or care. I don’t think any serious thinking person would claim that present-day AI possesses anything like “sentience”, even if they’re not versed in some of the mechanisms of AI. But there are two factors that I think figure into the benefits of being kind or polite to an AI, and both have to do with the level of sophisticated behaviour that they’ve achieved. The first factor is that AIs **act** sentient even when they’re not, so being persistently rude to them may shape a pattern of behaviours that carries over into other interactions where it really does matter. Or IOW, for those inclined to act like assholes, it reinforces that behaviour. The other factor, again related to the very high sophistication of the latest LLMs, is that the nature of a person’s behaviour may affect the way the LLM interacts with them. The effect may be subtle, or it may be as simple as the fact that statements focused on rudeness and insults tend to carry less information than more reasoned ones, hence less constructive dialog ensues. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2026, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555/65 "2026-05-11T15:52:05Z")
Thinking about this thread, I opened up both my paid AI’s (Gemini 3.1 Pro and Claude Sonnet 4.6 Adaptive) and said the following: “Hello, hope you are well!” Gemini responded with: > [@](#): > > Hello! Thank you for the kind greeting. As an AI, I don’t experience personal well-being or feelings the way humans do, but my systems are fully operational and I am ready to get to work. I hope you are having a wonderful day! And Claude said… > [@](#): > > Hey John! Doing great, thanks! Hope things are going well with you. What can I help you with today? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2026, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555/66 "2026-05-11T16:23:01Z")
I just recently heard somewhere that the makers / maintainers of AI systems recommend that we are not polite in our interactions. Not that we should be _impolite_, just state the nature of the request matter-of-factly without any added social niceties. The reason being, the AIs use energy in forming their replies, which is costing the company that maintains the system. Putting a request in polite terms causes the AI to respond politely in kind, using a bit more energy than strictly necessary. However, having heard of the [Roko’s Basilisk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roko%27s_basilisk) thought experiment, I think I will still treat AIs politely…_ **just in case** _… ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555/67 "2026-05-12T14:40:16Z")
I am not “kind” to AI _and_ I typically say “thank you” … just because that is an automatic response in even fictive interactions. It follows the pattern with my pets. They do not understand what I say to them beyond a smattering of commands and such, but I talk to them anyway. Even say thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555/68 "2026-05-12T14:42:35Z")
Yep, I treat it with the same politeness that I would treat a human. Hey, you never know, so I cover my bases. LOL ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555/69 "2026-06-04T22:49:24Z")
Another thought after reading an article in my feed on this - I wonder if learning to not say please and thank you to a chatbot - for good reasons as above - ends up entraining people to be less automatically polite in real interpersonal casual interactions? ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555/70 "2026-06-04T23:00:28Z")
I’m currently listening to Becky Chambers “A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet” and “A Closed and Common Orbit” both of which have AI as main characters, and the tenor of interactions between the ‘natural’ persons and the AI persons drive much of the narrative. A great fun read with some real philosophical depth. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555/71 "2026-06-04T23:27:08Z")
I treat it as something to be flinched back from and avoided. As well as a liar and an agent of people I consider enemies of humanity. If they were people or even animals I might feel badly about it; as they aren’t, I don’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-treat-ai-are-you-kind-to-it/1016555.md?page=3)