Have you taken the Bloomberg AI-dentity Quiz? I did, and it pegged me as a "cautious optimist." That seemed about right, but my sense of optimism was tested last week.

No, I wasn't reading "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies." Nor was I trying to determine whether a chatbot would lie, or get something wrong, or reveal its unethical underside. I was just listening to a colleague give me a tutorial on how to use one.

"Don't be polite," he said, as he deleted the word "please" while editing a command he was giving ChatGPT. "Saying 'please' just wastes its energy and resources. Be direct."

Uh-oh, I thought. If people learn to stop using polite language when speaking to a human-like helper, won't they also be less likely to use polite language when speaking to other people?

Courtesy and man

See Full Page