AI Prompts: Being Rude Saves Energy, UN Says

A new UN report warns that artificial intelligence is consuming energy at a dangerously fast rate. But it offers a simple fix: stop being polite to your AI. Researchers found that long, overly polite prompts—like “Please generate a list of…”—waste significant computing power. Instead, users should write short, direct commands. For example, “List 5 ways to save energy” uses far less electricity than a full sentence with pleasantries. The report does not ask people to stop using AI. It simply urges them to be more efficient. By cutting unnecessary words, users can reduce the energy needed for each query. This small change, the UN says, could help slow AI’s growing environmental impact.