Being polite to AI ?

Don’t think I’m trying to be overly dramatic or anything—but I wanted to share a small thought that’s been on my mind. Maybe it sounds a bit wild, but it actually makes sense to me. If there’s still anyone out there who enjoys reading blog posts (or believes they’re worth reading), I’d say give this one a quick look.

Have you ever noticed how people talk to their chatbots or smart speakers like Alexa or Siri? I’ve seen people yell at them, say “shut up,” or call them useless. It’s almost like the fact that AI doesn’t have feelings makes it okay to be rude. But should it be?

Just because AI doesn’t have emotions, it doesn’t mean we have to lose our own sense of kindness. Being polite isn’t really about the other person (or robot). It’s about us. We say “please” and “thank you” because it keeps us in the habit of being respectful, no matter who – or what – we’re talking to. We all know we’ll be using robots and AI much more in the future, so developing this kind of rude habit feels like a huge loss for our humanity.

I came across a tweet recently that said, “I always say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to chatbots so that when robots take over, I’ll have a special privilege.” It made me laugh, but it also made me think. Maybe there’s more truth to that than we realize.

So next time you ask your smart speaker to play a song or your chatbot to answer a question, try saying “please” and “thank you.” It’s a small thing, but it helps us stay human. And who knows, maybe the robots will remember who was nice to them when they take over the world!