UN Study Finds Shorter AI Prompts Cut Energy Use by 25 Percent

Removing 'please', 'thank you' and other polite words from AI prompts can reduce ChatGPT's energy consumption by up to 25 percent. The UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health found that such cuts save 87 to 98 gigawatt-hours annually, equivalent to 760,000 people's electricity use in sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers say concise prompts reduce token processing and response generation, lowering power needs. AI currently accounts for 20 percent of data centre energy use, projected to double.