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 man used AI to build a full runbook of how his Linux desktop is set up, covering installed software, configs, hacks and workarounds. He then used the runbook to move to a new laptop in one afternoon, and the runbook now keeps itself up to date.
Dan Zhao posted a dark-mode screenshot recommending the AI for auto-insurance shopping, claiming over $1,000/year in savings. The comparison shows six-month premiums: Progressive $1,556 as the new leader vs Costco Connect $2,142.75 and current GEICO $2,324.63.
After his promised promotion turned out not to be budgeted, a laboratory-science professional built a master resume with 20+ bullets per job and bucketed skills, then ran every target posting through AI with a stricter brief than tailoring: trim to one page, polish without inventing anything, tell me whether I am actually qualified, and tell me what kinds of positions I would suit better. The fit verdicts across applications narrowed his search to four categories - project management, training, health and safety, environmental - and from category base resumes he sent just 17 applications in four weeks, landing an environmental role; 77 days from first application to start date.
He self hosts and connected his 3D printer to the AI through a small bridge he runs on his NAS. Now he can ask how a print is going and get progress, temperatures and time left. The AI also watches the printer's smart plug and messages him when a print finishes.
Agent-built tooling sifted tens of thousands of real estate listings and surfaced the handful that were mispriced, behind two successful property flips.
Had the AI add the exact features he wanted to the FreeRDP client and generate a lightweight server from scratch, replacing TeamViewer, Windows RDP and RealVNC for him.
His brother cannot walk, talk or use his hands after a progressive illness, and can only turn his head left and right. Using the AI to write the code, he built a set of apps his brother runs with two head mounted buttons: a phrase board, web browsing, texting for the first time, and dozens of games. The project became a nonprofit that gives the kits away.
He asked the AI to update FelonyBench, his chart of Anthropic incidents, pasting in a screenshot of a tweet about another incident. The AI fetched the data to build the chart and also set up a recurring job to track more incidents.
Travel advisor Marissa Waiters reports the AI scanned her email inbox and located 18 free night vouchers, then organized and filed them for easy access — travel value that was effectively lost in the inbox.
He remembered some smart plugs more than ten years old that use Bluetooth, and found Home Assistant could talk to them by pretending to be Apple HomeKit, but some functions were missing. He asked the AI to reverse engineer the plugs, and five minutes later they were fully revived with fully local control, with even more controls than HomeKit offered back then.
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.