Real things everyday people got it to do, and how to try them yourself.
A random mix from the whole library. Shuffle for a new set.
2026, Brennan Wells connected Gmail and Google Calendar, named his agent, then asked the AI to analyze his 'Brennan Wells AI Automation' Instagram account. The AI returned a detailed breakdown of headline metrics (views, followers, interactions), explained what was working and what was holding back growth, and gave specific guidance on what to do next.
He bought a ratgdo control board for his garage door opener. The AI wrote and installed new firmware for it, and it can update the firmware too, so it now has full control of the opener, including the ability to disable the remotes.
Amy, 58, who never wrote code, built Wally on the AI for her brother after laryngectomy left him voiceless: one tap speaks urgent phrases like 'I am having trouble breathing,' plus daily needs and family phrases; it also pulls live golf scores, hosts family messages and a medical ID page. He used it daily until his death in August 2026.
A Low Code Studio creator gave the AI a single prompt describing a Compliance Tracker app; the AI designed the data structure, created the SharePoint list with columns and data types, and wrote the YAML for all four screens. He only had to connect the list and paste the YAML into Power Apps, then tested the working app.
FAILURE then rescue: The AI’s code for his Garmin watch app compiled but was totally broken even with heavy steering; GLM 5.3 Flash then made it work.
Opus 5.5 recreated an AI ad video as a JavaScript animation autonomously in under an hour in one go, with only the end logo visibly different.
He is a photographer who found typing alt text for every photo slow going. He built a small agent on his own n8n server: he sends a photo through an Apple shortcut, the agent reads the picture with a local Qwen model, adds the camera data, and saves the finished alt text in an Obsidian note, ten photos at a time.
The AppleVis reviewer told the AI he knew he had unused Southwest credits and wanted to use them to book a flight to Nashville. The AI located the credits and autonomously booked the flight.
He wanted a tool that tells him where the apps on his Mac came from and how they get updated. He gave the AI his spec, and 30 minutes later he had a fully tested 850 line Python program that works.
The AI built him a set of local jobs on a Mac mini, and no model runs inside them. New Todoist tasks print as small tickets within half a minute, and at 7:30 each morning a brief prints and arrives by email with the day's calendar, overdue tasks, weather for two towns, and two clients' numbers from the day before, each set against its seven day average.
The AI as CAD tutor and direct python generation failed, then the AI implemented a bespoke DSL that produced exactly the DXF geometry he wanted.
The AI had been optimizing llama.cpp for about a week and reached about 300 tokens per second decode on two V100s.
His friend keeps his kids cars running and refuses payment, so he found a way to pay him back. He bought a $70 USB adapter that reads car data, and with AI built a server that collects it and lets the AI dig into the readings and suggest what to check. He has tested it on his own 2024 Honda and his friends 2003 GMC truck.
The AI built an automatic Clone Hero charting solution, ripping audio from YouTube and using Whisper to time vocals.
Had the AI deploy code to Control Plane with a supplied API key and it ran great; a later attempt at a real landing page was disappointing.
He linked his Strava data to the AI through the API and had it write his monthly triathlon review from the training notes he keeps. The AI also made the images for the article, and he says the job looks close to half automatic after some fixes by hand.
Analyzer agents audited and trimmed skill files, cutting about 18 percent then about 600 more lines, and extracting bash into scripts turned up bugs.
Fulton's the AI flagged an Economist interview with Andrew Ng that matched his interests, wrote him a primer before it started, and placed it on both his personal and work calendars. He had not asked it to connect those dots.
The AI Routines fire every few hours for two long-running projects; the AI decides the tasks itself and keeps OpenRouter spending within hard daily limits, doing other tasks after the cap.
His dad lost the magnetic board games he used on road trips. He had the AI research and build simple digital versions of the games, and his dad plays them now.
Every idea is a real post from someone who tried it, summarized in our words, with a link to the original. App names are swapped for plain words.