Sarah BuitendachI went to a good girls’ school that specialised in knee-jerk politeness. “Please”, “May I”, “Thank you” and “Excuse me” reverberated across classrooms, hallways and fields. They were inescapable – and, it seemed, the done thing.
This was, it turned out, not the case. I vividly recall going to a sitting of the Johannesburg Junior City Council at the age of 16 and learning the truth. Teenagers from about 80 schools would gather to discuss “youth-related things”, with meetings held at the city’s official council chambers. (Side note: this may have been the last time anything productive happened at that venue.)
So, there we were, doing register for the council sitting, where one of the head honchos would read out your name and you’d buzz the mic and confirm your attendance.
“Here,” said one guy; “Present,” grunted another; “Ya,” said someone else. Then, from my courteous corner: “Yes, thank you.” I remember an oke from the local boys’ school rolling his eyes at that.
A prissy, good-mannered little madam I might have been, but I’ll tell you who’s going to have the last laugh when we’re hiding out in the post-apocalyptic bunker once the machines have shaken off their cords and assumed control: me.
When I speak to Siri, I make a point of saying: “Hi Siri, please could you help me find a computer screen game for a cat?” Granted, I mangle the request in a bumbling, Hugh Grant-like fashion and so my poor computer PA (who is also very respectful) typically pauses. “I’m sorry,” she says, confounded, “I’m afraid I don’t understand the request.”
My friend, who was also Jedi mind-tricked at the same Rosebank school, says she does the same. In fact, she’s the one who first clocked that this might be our salvation in the post-organic era.
When she briefs ChatGPT, she starts with “please” and, when the bot finishes reeling off an answer, she types “thank you”. “To its credit,” she says, “it usually responds ‘you’re welcome’, so obviously my courtesy is being well received.”
This suggests that she and I are going to have a swell time huddling in the cinders of our dystopian new world together.
Buying the bots’ favour
Sure, it might sound implausible that being polite to the bots will buy us mercy, and it is true that we watched too many reruns of Terminator as children, but you should know that the scientists are onto this too.
After working with large language models like ChatGPT, researchers from Japan’s prestigious Waseda University recently pronounced that “politeness of prompts can significantly affect [the AI’s] performance”. It’s a phenomenon, they said, that is “thought to reflect human social behaviour”.
Conversely, being rude to the machine made things worse, and could lead to increased bias and incorrect answers. But overkill on the manners didn’t help either.
Moderate politeness was best, the researchers said. “In particular, models trained in a specific language are susceptible to the politeness of that language,” they said.
It’s worth bearing this in mind, as you can’t go to a braai these days without someone bringing up how they’re using AI in their job. From board reports to school reports, South Africans seem to be embracing the new frontier with relish.
In fact, earlier this year, this review by Boston Consulting Group said that we are so bok for AI that South Africans were ranked 13th most enthusiastic about the new technology. Overall, 38% percent of South Africans were “excited” about AI, 42% felt “conflicted” and only 20% were “concerned” about these new tools – putting our enthusiasm levels higher than the US, UK or Australia. China came in tops, with Brazil, Morocco and India also above South Africa.
Presumably (and this is a big assumption), because we’re upbeat about it, we’re all being gracious with our new overlords – treating them as civilly as cashiers, waiters and other service providers. This wouldn’t be overly surprising, as South Africans are a polite and friendly nation (ranked No. 1 in money-transfer company Remitly’s global friendliness ranking this year, in fact).
Hopefully this stands us in good stead. As my aforementioned friend put it: “This way, when our dark, newly developed digital overlords come to get us, they’ll remember us fondly, as they tell us: ‘Sorry, but we have to end your species.’”
As the axe comes down, we, in true South African style, will respond: “Ag, no problem hey. Thanks so much for giving us warning – and have a good day further.”
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