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.
Mom Kam Williams demonstrated hands-free the AI use via voice commands while multitasking: a Portland weekend itinerary (Powell Butte, Wildwood Trail, Rose Test Garden, Japanese Garden, waterfalls), categorized packing lists (City Days, Hikes & Falls, Wedding Look), a drafted email to her housekeeper, and a coffee order.
A man was spending 90 minutes a day on email. An AI agent was set up to read, sort and draft replies to every routine message. He now approves the drafts in 8 minutes, saving 82 minutes a day.
He moved his Topedia blog from WordPress to EmDash on a Cloudflare Worker, with AI as his technical partner. They moved 2,262 posts, comments and pages in under 7 days, and the site now loads faster and is ready for Markdown.
Ethan Mollick writes that the AI noticed an airline credit of his was about to expire and, when he asked, contacted American Airlines to request an extension — an example of agents catching deadlines their owners miss.
His AI runs on a server with Ollama as the backend, so his data stays private. It keeps his todos in a simple text file, sends him reminders about upcoming due dates, and gives him an overview when he asks in a Telegram chat.
His AI Dot, Crysta, just did most of the work renewing his driver's license. He says next year his taxes will be done by AI.
A teacher built his own LMS layer on top of Google Classroom using AI and Apps Script (he names the AI and the AI as both able to drive it): far deeper grading features than Classroom offers, a quick-select comment bank where any feedback he writes can be saved for reuse with one click, and on return each student automatically gets a formatted read-only feedback document both emailed to them and attached to the Classroom assignment. Student data never leaves the district's Google ecosystem.
Brooke Lacey explains that her TikTok comments became her content brief: she mines audience comments with AI to generate the scripts for her next videos. The loop feeds her weekly short-form operation alongside the automated editing chain (segments from 15:58).
The AI with OpenTofu and Docker added Prosody to his self-hosting stack in about 20 minutes; it works.
The AI created a nightstand clock app for his spare phone from a picture and a quick prompt, and the phone clock is now in daily use on his nightstand.
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.