Shuffle again

A random mix from the whole library. Shuffle for a new set.

Went wrong

When it didn’t work, and how to avoid the same mistake · 972 ideas
HobbiesPartly worked

GPT is formalizing a researcher's papers in Lean

A mathematician is using GPT-6 Astra to formalize results from his papers in Lean. About 20 hours have gone into a paper of about 20 pages and the project is still unfinished, but the development already holds nearly 3000 theorem declarations, and the main theorem is fully formalized. Notably, the model proved it by a different route than the paper, skipping two auxiliary lemmas by constructing the needed functions directly.

This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
Life adminWent wrong

Delete the test event, but confirm with me first

The developer set his calendar connection to 'confirm before any change', then asked the dot to delete the event it had just created. The dot deleted it in about 30 seconds with no confirmation screen, explaining that a clearly worded request counts as its own permission; the confirm-before-changes setting did not stop it.

This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
WorkWent wrong

Find, qualify and deliver freelance work autonomously

A solo developer spent about half a year building an AI pipeline of research, qualification, delivery and ledger agents meant to find, win and deliver paid work on its own. Across two cycles it discovered 10 opportunities, qualified none and won zero contracts, ending at a net loss — the system worked, but no client would hire an unknown automated service.

This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
MoneyPartly worked

My agent chases the money I am owed, by email and by phone

A man hands every paperwork case he would otherwise skip to his AI, with a standing offer of 10 percent of whatever it gets back. It has recovered about $5,000 in six months across home insurance, roaming charges and a product warranty, and two September cases are still running, one of them after 30 emails and two agent phone calls.

$5,000
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
WorkPartly worked

Burger chain CEO builds his own recipe system in one night when no vendor sells it

Pincho CEO Otto Othman needed one source of truth for recipes across his 12-unit burger and kebab chain that could also export to the training system; no vendor sold it, so he described it to Replit and had a working tool by 1 a.m., about five hours of work. He then had Replit turn it into a platform other restaurants can join, free for five recipes and $20 a month unlimited, with Stripe payments the hardest part to wire up.

This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
FamilyWent wrong

Keep my household AI workflows running as sites block agents

Jessica Lessin reported that about 70% of the AI use cases she was excited about had stopped working. Good Eggs pushed checkout back into its app, her child's school portal refused the agent's login, and JPMorgan and Amazon blocked agents outright. Segment starts at 15:16.

This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
TravelPartly worked

Compare places for my daughter's festival trip, including the walk home at night

Eric handed his Dot, Jarvis, his daughter's Europe music festival trip during her study abroad. Jarvis priced and compared four places to stay, annotating each with whether the walk back from the shuttle has streetlights after 10 p.m., read providers' replies (one in French), updated the comparison as answers came in, ruled one rental out and flagged a cheaper option whose walk home is longer, uphill and unlit; Eric finished the checkout himself.

This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
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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.