Using Please and Thank you in a prompt

Prompting
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The question about using “Please” and “Thank you” in a prompt has been around for some years now. Recently saw this web page

Sam Altman Admits That Saying “Please” and “Thank You” to ChatGPT Is Wasting Millions of Dollars in Computing Power

with the subtitle

“You never know.”

Now a few days ago GPT 4.1 for the API was announced and in digging through the OpenAI information found a link to

My take on the use of “Please” and “Thank you” is

  • If a prompt is not working, then adding “Please” might help. This was much more effective with the earlier ChatGPT and other AI models but less so now, but still something to keep on the list of options. Think of it like the history of using one-shot and no-shot prompts; one-shots were beneficial when ChatGPT first appeared but now needed much less moving forward.
  • If you are using a prompt in an API that does not work, then consider creating and using Prompt tools such as Funnel, Flux and Orbit as noted in the evals blog, AFAIK they have not been released to the public so you will have to create your own implementation.
  • I have not used “Thank you” in a prompt but as Sam notes, “You never know.” so might have to consider it if all other options are not improving the prompt.

Please keep replies on topic, helpful and with practical objective advise.

Thanks.

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The recent article in which Altman said us using Please and Thank you are costing him money is RICH, when you consider all the quirks, glitches, and ridiculous design flaws in his product, including the dead end links and virtually non-existent support (at least for Plus customers, maybe it’s better for the Enterprise users).

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