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Should you say ‘thank you’ to ChatGPT?
If we don’t watch our manners with machines, we may forget to treat people with respect, too.
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If we don’t watch our manners with machines, we may forget to treat people with respect, too, says the writer.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Stephen Bush
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During one Passover visit to see my American cousins, I was taken aback when, having asked Alexa to play music, her response to me saying “please” was a surprisingly flirtatious commentary on my good manners.
I don’t say “please” to a smart speaker because I think that the sound system’s feelings will be hurt otherwise. I do it because the rule that when you ask for something, you should say please, has been so ingrained in me that it has become a muscle memory.
