The Token Cost of Politeness in AI Interactions
By
Gal Miller
Clarity is Free? Not Anymore.
Everyone’s talking about how being polite to your AI costs tokens. But let’s be honest—I don’t have that problem. I’m not polite.
I go at it full force—Yelling. Swearing. Calling it useless. Threatening to switch to Claude. (Sometimes I actually do.)
I’ve broken a keyboard over GPT hallucinating for the third time in a row. I’ve typed in all caps just to feel something. And somehow… that’s still cheaper than writing a sweet 5-paragraph prompt that gets me nowhere.
So yeah—being nice costs tokens. But being Israeli-frustrated might cost more in keyboards, but at least it gets results.
Here's My Actual Take:
If your AI only understands you when you’re polite, it’s not a good system. It’s a fragile one.
Clarity > Courtesy. Results > Rituals. And “Thanks” is optional unless I’m talking to a human.
