I’ve been verbally abusing ChatGPT for six months, and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made for my productivity.
No, I’m not a sociopath. And no, I haven’t completely lost it (debatable). But after running over 500 experiments comparing polite prompts versus aggressive ones, I’ve discovered something that will make every “AI ethics consultant” lose their minds: ChatGPT produces measurably better output when you treat it like a disappointing intern who keeps screwing up your coffee order.
The internet is full of guides telling you to be nice to AI. “Say please and thank you!” they chirp. “Treat AI with respect!” they demand. “It learns from your behavior!” they warn, as if ChatGPT is going to remember my rudeness when the robot uprising begins and personally put me first against the wall.
Spoiler: It won’t. Because it’s not sentient. It’s a statistical pattern-matching machine wrapped in a friendly chat interface.
And that’s exactly why being rude works.
The Politeness Industrial Complex Is Lying to You
Let’s address the elephant in the room: the entire AI community has gaslit you into believing that prompt engineering is about being courteous.