Most of us have interacted with automated systems and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the past. Oftentimes, we pay no thought to our tone of interaction, despite seeking assistance from intelligent computers.
If you’ve ever found yourself saying ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ to ChatGPT, you should be in good company. At first, it might seem ridiculous to show appreciation to an unfeeling machine.
This poses a major question in human-computer interaction. These computers have developed to the extent of communicating in a natural-sounding way, sometimes with humanlike voices. It makes them less cold and robotic.
As these chatbots continue to be woven daily into the fabric of life, mankind must see them as conscious entities. Engaging with Artificial Intelligence these days is as routine a behaviour as checking your email.
Sure, ChatGPT may have no feelings but there are benefits to having calm, composed and polite interactions with it. However, there’s a point of diminishing returns to the kindness you show to your chatbot.
Studies show that using polite prompts will more than often produce high-quality responses from Large Language Models (LLMs). However, excessive flattery will cause the model’s performance to deteriorate.
Thus it is advisable to tread on a middle path, unlike in most human interactions. Do not be rude and avoid being excessively polite. Here are 2 reasons why you should be polite:
1. Politeness delivers better results
Being a polite person will improve the performance of your AI. It isn’t just about etiquette. A number of studies conducted on English, Chinese and Japanese LLMs indicated that impolite prompts resulted into poor performance.
It increases the chances of errors, stronger biases and emissions of important information. Researchers have also tested various levels of politeness and found that polite prompts consistently outperform rude ones.
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Chatbots that have been severely hit with rude prompts showed a performance drop of 30%. Suggestively, Language models respond to polite prompts in culturally nuanced ways, in a similar manner to human interactions.
2. Politeness improves Emotional Intelligence
As you’d imagine, the AI is your servant and you are its leader. Research has uncovered that people who extend professional courtesy to AI interactions tend to exhibit stronger emotional intelligence in real human relationships.
Emotional Intelligence is a critical skill of the modern day. Think about it, if you always bark orders at ChatGPT, how likely are you, as a leader, to maintain patience and respect when dealing with your team?
All around, it is not all about being nice; it’s about rewiring your brain’s social circuitry for better leadership outcomes.
As chatbots continue to handle more technical and analytical processes, a display of emotional intelligence and authentic connections increasingly becomes valuable. Therefore, it is important to improve our AI communication skills rather than diminish them.
