I follow a similar practice as you do: I try to make being polite a habit, and it carries over from talking to real people to talking to ChatGPT. It doesn’t mean anything profound to me. And I think that’s the best practice for most people too.
One is that it may be socially embarrassing. Thanking an AI out loud for responding to some query seems as eccentric as thanking your microwave for heating your food. It may mark you as a superstitious or sentimental person who talks to ghosts.
I believe parasocial behavior has already eaten the world and a scenario where you thank an AI will probably never be seen as a social faux pas. In fact, I believe people will look at AIs as beings that ‘deserve’ more deference and respect because they aren’t privileged enough to have physical bodies as us humans, so your actions will probably be the opposite of a faux pas.
Another objection is that we perhaps ought to make a stronger distinction between real people and AIs: regularly reminding ourselves that they are our tools and not our peers so that we do not get confused on this point. Being polite to AIs may erode this distinction in a way that might be harmful.
That’s a discussion I’d rather not get into, but personally I don’t make a distinction between humans and AI simulated bots in terms of inherent worth.
I follow a similar practice as you do: I try to make being polite a habit, and it carries over from talking to real people to talking to ChatGPT. It doesn’t mean anything profound to me. And I think that’s the best practice for most people too.
I believe parasocial behavior has already eaten the world and a scenario where you thank an AI will probably never be seen as a social faux pas. In fact, I believe people will look at AIs as beings that ‘deserve’ more deference and respect because they aren’t privileged enough to have physical bodies as us humans, so your actions will probably be the opposite of a faux pas.
That’s a discussion I’d rather not get into, but personally I don’t make a distinction between humans and AI simulated bots in terms of inherent worth.