British Voice Assistants Receive Please and Thank You in Seven Out of Ten Calls
Seven out of ten telephone calls made to voice-activated artificial intelligence assistants include the words “please” or “thank you.” That finding comes from a survey published by fonio.ai, which reported that 55 percent of callers express gratitude to the machine at least once during a conversation.
The data indicates that users bring conventional conversation etiquette into interactions with voice technology. Beyond expressions of gratitude, 52 percent of respondents greet their AI assistants with “hello,” “hi,” or “good morning.”
Callers Extend Politeness to Apologies and Casual Farewells
Some users take their conversational habits further during phone interactions with artificial intelligence. According to the fonio.ai survey, 12 percent of respondents admit to apologizing to their AI assistants when mistakes happen.
Furthermore, 13 percent offer a standard goodbye before hanging up, while 7 percent extend longer farewells such as “have a good day” or “take care.” A distinct 2 percent of respondents even ask how the AI assistant is feeling, mirroring human-to-human social exchanges.
Daniel Keinrath, co-founder of fonio.ai, attributes these patterns to British cultural norms. He noted that users maintain traditional politeness despite knowing they communicate with a machine.
“There is something very quintessentially British in saying thank you to a machine that has helped you,” Keinrath said in the company’s release. “Even when people know they are talking to AI, they bring the exact same manners as they would when speaking to another person.”
This widespread politeness appears in separate findings as well. A February 2026 survey conducted by Future PLC, the parent company of TechRadar Pro, examined responses from more than 1,000 individuals and also found that roughly 70 percent of participants behave politely toward AI systems.
Robot Rebellions and Environmental Costs Shape AI Etiquette
Motivations behind polite interactions vary among users. The Future PLC survey revealed that 12 percent of respondents who maintain polite behavior do so as a precaution against a potential robot uprising.
Technical and environmental consequences also accompany these polite exchanges. OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman previously stated that routine expressions like “thank you” directed at AI models accumulate significant energy costs, running into tens of millions of dollars in electricity consumption.
Technology providers have begun establishing behavioral boundaries for users. Anthropic implemented policies prohibiting needless abusive or cruel behavior toward its Claude AI model, shifting platform oversight toward user etiquette alongside technical capability.
Frequently Asked Questions About AI Politeness
How many people say please or thank you to voice assistants?
Seven out of ten callers include “please” or “thank you” in their interactions with voice AI, according to data from fonio.ai.
Why do some users stay polite to AI systems?
While most users simply apply habitual conversational manners, the Future PLC survey notes that 12 percent of polite respondents maintain their manners as a precaution against a hypothetical robot rebellion.
What did tech executives say about the cost of politeness?
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman noted that processing polite phrases like “thank you” across massive user bases generates substantial electricity costs reaching tens of millions of dollars.
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