By Coco Khan
Publication Date: 2026-03-17 09:00:00
I I am, in the spirit of my country, an overly apologetic person. A colleague who ignored my email, a woman who stepped on my foot, a chair I tripped over: all will receive a profuse apology for the terrible embarrassment of being alive and drawing attention to it.
All of this is my way of preemptively asking for forgiveness by admitting that I carry these subtleties over to AI chatbots. “Good morning Claude, thank you for your suggestions yesterday, they were great. Shall we elaborate more?” I could say. (“I’d like to,” Claude retorts.) It was at first an unintentional formality, then became intentional, because I didn’t want to get into the habit of speaking rudely in case it affected behavior toward people (cue dystopian visions of someone shouting “WRONG, DO IT AGAIN” at a cowering employee over a mix-up at a donut shop). After all, manners are muscles that need to be exercised.
But I never thought that this private decision could have any significance for Claude himself. Because as it turns out…
