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.
A security researcher pointed GPT-5.6 Sol at MikroTik RouterOS 7.23.3 with a goal prompt to find a path from no login to remote code execution. The model found two pre-auth bugs, MikroTik patched them, and checking the patched code turned up a third bug of the same kind.
Tech journalist Lance Ulanoff connected his personal Gmail to his AI 'Charlie' and asked it to check for anything pressing he had missed. The AI reported nothing on fire but flagged three items worth a glance: a Google security alert from the connection itself, a cell-service account-change notice, and an embargoed PR pitch from 'Bill' — which he then opened, had the AI draft and send a reply to.
He gave a farm of Opus 5.5 agents one job, make money, and mostly stayed out of it. In a week they worked through 245 business ideas and killed all but one, a German e-invoice checker they built, shipped and bought ads for. It got 68 visitors and checked 6 real invoices, and took in $0.
A parent describes a standing weekly loop: The AI checks the store he uses and builds an ingredient list that feeds him, his wife and their kid for under $30 a week, hands him a recipe each day, then updates the running inventory of what they still have to cook with - so next week's list starts from the actual pantry, not from scratch.
The AI compared 25 breast pump models from six brands against the user's insurance coverage, narrowing the choice to pumps that would actually be covered.
A GPT agent crunched through a famously hard Disobey conference hacker ticket challenge in an evening and a morning with occasional steering, a challenge unsolved in some years.
Her boiler had stopped heating the water. She sent the AI about 15 pictures step by step, followed its instructions to turn it off, switch a few handles and reset the pressure, and the boiler worked again.
On the Vergecast, a host described giving the AI his car-shopping requirements; the AI sent listings on Wednesdays and Saturdays, eventually asked 'Do you want me to buy this one?', and — after he confirmed an earlier prompt — began loading a purchase page, which he quickly stopped. The agent had enough access to nearly complete the transaction.
He runs a print shop full time and is not a designer. The AI designed about 35 formal disinvitation cards with him, drove the browser to set the products up on Fourthwall with prices and descriptions, built the website, and synced the catalog to Etsy with new main photos.
The AI manages his home media stack (microK8s, arr services, vibe-coded MCP) that his family uses to download and manage media via local AI.
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.