I used AI to fix a data entry gap at work
A man with no coding experience used AI to generate a VBA script in Excel. The script fixed a manual data entry gap at his work and took the risk of typos and misreads out of the job.
427 new ideas this week
Level up how you use AI
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.
An LLM maintains his research document and the pipeline that rebuilds its figures
An LLM maintains his org and LaTeX work document, an external library and CLI, and a Makefile and Snakemake pipeline that regenerates content and figures and puts numerical results into LaTeX macros.
Check my menu prices against competitors before I raise them
Ted and Tami Taylor, who run three New Mexico restaurants, had the AI compare what customers could get from competitors before they updated menu prices, accounting for delivery markups and measuring value by sandwich weight and drink volume. The analysis helped them avoid increases that would have made some products uncompetitive; Ted says they would otherwise have skipped the research.
Identified a dead drill from a photo and found a discontinued battery
Iamphisho's power drill died and the battery was discontinued, so he sent the AI a photo saying 'find me a battery' — it ID'd the drill from the photo, found an aftermarket battery on eBay, and got it to his door. 'I never opened a single browser tab.'
I filed a 59 page civil complaint I wrote with AI
She used three AIs to cross check each other, mostly the AI in Word, and in about two weeks wrote and filed a 59 page unlimited civil complaint for her own case. The lawyers tasked with that work charge $300 an hour.
Identify my discontinued drill battery from a photo and find one on eBay
From a photo, the AI identified the user's discontinued drill battery and found an aftermarket replacement on eBay.
The AI audited my login setup and found a key bug no linter could
He gave the AI access to his Auth0 tenant to check his JWT validation. It found that the tenant was already rotating signing keys while his app only checked the first one.
Monitored Newark-to-Haneda fares for a 3-month January trip; found a $2,000 United
The Tremendous blogger asked the AI to watch Newark-to-Haneda fares for a January trip. It searched well and found a $2,000 United ticket.
$2,000
The AI made the advert for the event I help run
The AI researched the event, looked at the programme and speakers, and picked a style. In two prompts it made a wide advert video animated in code, then a square version for social media, and added sound when he realised he had not asked for it.
Negotiate my Comcast bill down to $60 a month
The AI negotiated the user's Comcast bill down to $60 a month, a saving of about $288 a year.
$288a year
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.