With OpenAI now officially remembering all past conversations, some people have wondered if you should be nice to your AI, as you don’t know what it will be capable of doing in the future or what it can do with the information you share.
So I asked, and here’s what it answered: “AI agents, like me, don’t have feelings—so whether you’re nice or angry won’t change the technical performance of the response.”
That said, how you phrase things can impact the quality of the output. Here’s the breakdown:
🔍 Why Being Nice (or Clear) Helps
– Politeness usually comes with clarity. When calm, users tend to ask more thoughtful, structured questions, which helps the AI respond more accurately.
– More context = better output. Courteous or neutral phrasing often includes more context, examples, or specifics. This directly improves the AI’s ability to help.
⚠️ Why Frustration Can Hurt Performance
– Ambiguity and urgency. Annoyed inputs often skip details (“Why is this so broken?!”), which gives the AI less to work with.
– Sarcasm or frustration can confuse the model. While models are better at detecting tone now, they still struggle with sarcasm or rhetorical complaints that humans would immediately get.
💡 The Bottom Line
– You won’t hurt the AI’s feelings, but you might get a worse answer if your frustration leads to vague or chaotic input.
– The best strategy is to treat it like a helpful assistant who works best when given a good brief.
What has been your experience?
