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Axios
a day ago
- Business
- Axios
Welcome to the "infinite workday"
Working 9 to 5 was once a way to make a living, in the parlance of Dolly Parton, but the workday today? It never ends. Why it matters: That's the startling finding of a report out Tuesday from Microsoft on the "infinite workday," which starts before many knowledge workers get out of bed, ends late at night and stretches into the weekend. "The modern workday for many has no clear start or finish," write the authors of the Work Trend Index Special Report, which looked at anonymized data from millions of global users of Microsoft 365's productivity apps like Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, etc. By the numbers: It's difficult to stay focused during formal business hours. Knowledge workers are interrupted by a ping from an app — such as email, calendar or messaging — every 1.75 minutes, or 275 times, during the official eight-hour work day, finds the analysis, which looked at data from 12-month period ending February 2025. Meanwhile, as workers are more distributed around the country and world, thanks to the rise of remote work, one in five meetings are now happening outside "regular" work hours. Meetings after 8 p.m. are up 16% from last year, and the average employee now sends or receives at least 50 messages outside of core business hours. These folks aren't sleeping in come the morning, either. A "broad base" of workers are up at 6 a.m. working, says Colette Stallbaumer, cofounder of Microsoft WorkLab and the general manager for Microsoft 365 Copilot. Zoom in: A lot work happens on the fly, according to the authors. 57% of meetings are ad hoc calls without a calendar invite and 1 in 10 scheduled meetings are booked at the last minute. "For many, the workday now feels like navigating chaos — reacting to others' priorities and losing focus on what matters most," they write. The big picture: Even as more companies are pushing people back to the office, the rise of remote work has normalized working around the clock wherever you are. "People are figuring out how to do their job and work when it works best for them," Stallbaumer says. That may mean people jump back online in the evening after putting kids to bed or catch up on the weekend. The downside of such "flexibility" is that the workday never ends. 💭 Our thought bubble: The inability to unplug is a surefire way to burn out a workforce.
Int'l Business Times
23-04-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
ChatGPT CEO Gladly Loses 'Tens of Millions' When AI Users Are Polite: Money 'Well Spent'
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took to social media to indicate that the money lost by his company when users are polite to ChatGPT is money "well spent". Altman recently revealed that users implementing good manners when speaking to the AI chatbot, such as saying "please" and "thank you" to it, costs OpenAI millions of additional dollars in operational expenses. However, the CEO took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his peace with the money lost by his company in this capacity. "I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying 'please' and 'thank you' to their models," one user questioned on April 15. I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying 'please' and 'thank you' to their models. — tomie (@tomieinlove) April 15, 2025 "Tens of millions of dollars well spent--you never know," Altman responded. tens of millions of dollars well spent--you never know — Sam Altman (@sama) April 16, 2025 However, the use of manners can also be beneficial for AI chatbots. Kurtis Beavers, a director on the design team for Microsoft Copilot, revealed in a Microsoft WorkLab memo that "using basic etiquette when interacting with AI" assists the AI in generating "respectful, collaborative outputs." He added that being polite to the AI "not only ensures you get the same graciousness in return, but it also improves the AI's responsiveness and performance." In the US, 67% of people reported being polite to AI chatbots compared to 71% of people in the UK, according to research conducted by Future in December of 2024. A further survey of the respondents who reported being impolite to AI revealed that they did so for the purpose of brevity and to save time. Furthermore, about 12% of respondents reported being polite to the AI for fear of facing consequences in the future, which may be what Altman was alluding to with this "you never know" message. Originally published on Latin Times
USA Today
22-04-2025
- USA Today
Saying 'please' and 'thank you' to ChatGPT costs millions of dollars, CEO says
Saying 'please' and 'thank you' to ChatGPT costs millions of dollars, CEO says Show Caption Hide Caption OpenAI Studies AI's Role In Biological Weapons Threat OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is developing an early warning system to detect if artificial intelligence (AI) creates biological weapons. unbranded - Newsworthy Being polite to artificial intelligence can be quite expensive. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on social media last week that saying "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT has cost the company quite a bit of money. Altman responded to a user on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, who was curious how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people showing good manners to their AI models. "Tens of millions of dollars well spent--you never know," was the CEO's response. Generative AI is widely seen as a heavy consumer of energy, particularly when it comes to training models. Kurtis Beavers, a director on the design team for Microsoft Copilot, said in a Microsoft WorkLab memo that "using basic etiquette when interacting with AI" helps generate "respectful, collaborative outputs." Beavers said in the memo that generative AI also mirrors the levels of professionalism, clarity and detail in the prompts you provide. Beavers added that being polite to your AI chatbot "not only ensures you get the same graciousness in return, but it also improves the AI's responsiveness and performance." Survey shows people are polite to AI out of fear According to research conducted in December 2024 by Future, the publisher that owns TechRadar, about 67% of people who use AI are polite to it in the US, compared to 71% in the UK. The survey of more than 1,000 people show that about two-thirds of people say they are impolite to AI due to brevity. Additionally, about 12% of respondents say they are polite out of fear of future consequences. Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@
New York Post
21-04-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Saying ‘please' and ‘thank you' to ChatGPT costs tens of millions of dollars, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admits
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted that simple courtesies such as saying 'please' and 'thank you' to his company's ChatGPT bot are surprisingly expensive — costing the firm substantial sums in electricity expenses. Altman made the revelation when a user on the social media platform X asked about the financial impact politeness towards AI might have on OpenAI's operating costs. Altman responded by noting the loss was 'tens of millions of dollars well spent,' adding cryptically: 'You never know.' Advertisement 3 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that simple courtesies such as saying 'please' and 'thank you' to his company's ChatGPT bot are surprisingly expensive. AP Chatbots such as ChatGPT run on large language models (LLMs), which rely on extensive computational infrastructure hosted in data centers. These models require thousands of high-performance GPUs (graphics processing units) to operate efficiently. Advertisement The GPUs perform vast amounts of parallel processing to interpret prompts and generate responses in real time. Powering these data centers demands enormous amounts of electricity. It's estimated that generating a single AI-written response, such as a short email or paragraph, can consume as much as 0.14 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy — comparable to keeping 14 LED bulbs lit for one hour. 3 Chatbots such as ChatGPT run on large language models (LLMs), which rely on extensive computational infrastructure hosted in data centers. CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images Advertisement When scaled across billions of interactions daily, the cumulative energy usage becomes significant. Globally, data centers already account for about 2% of total electricity consumption. With the rapid expansion of AI applications and increasing demand for generative AI services like ChatGPT, experts warn that this figure could rise sharply in the coming years. While some might view courteous interactions with chatbots as unnecessary, several AI experts argue that politeness significantly shapes AI interactions positively. Advertisement Kurtis Beavers, a director on the design team for Microsoft Copilot, has advocated for respectful prompts, stating they 'help generate respectful, collaborative outputs.' According to Beavers, polite phrasing doesn't merely reflect good manners but actively influences how the AI replies, setting a more constructive and professional interaction tone. 3 Altman said that OpenAI spent 'tens of millions of dollars' as a result of ChatGPT users saying 'please' and 'thank you' in prompts. REUTERS 'When it clocks politeness, it's more likely to be polite back,' according to Microsoft WorkLab, a digital publication produced by the software giant that is specifically devoted to integration of AI in the workplace. Politeness towards AI has become increasingly common. A 2024 survey revealed that approximately 67% of American users regularly employ courteous language when interacting with chatbots. Within that group, a majority (55%) believe politeness is ethically correct, while another 12% humorously indicated that their polite language serves as insurance against potential AI rebellion.
