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Went wrong

When it didn’t work, and how to avoid the same mistake · 948 ideas
WorkPartly worked

Build a source-checked mini-site in five minutes — but it can't go public

Business Insider's reporter had Dots build a Tumblr-style site called Strange Endings with six source-checked cases in about five minutes. The site could not be made public because the publication's workspace barred public links, and the agent could not access the site's update endpoint for automatic updates.

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

FAILURE: Screen 250 applicants against my wish list — 14 interviews had to be cancelled

Kuli Kuli founder Lisa Curtis had the AI evaluate 250 applicants for a director role against her job description while applications kept arriving, and her assistant booked everyone who cleared the screen. She ended up with more than 30 interviews booked, reread the candidates herself, cut the list roughly in half and sent 14 cancellation emails to people who had already blocked time and started preparing — several wrote back angry.

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

Someone put a backdoor in my website. The AI helped me clean it out.

He opened his site dashboard and found a plugin he never installed. A session with AI showed someone had built a backdoor into the site, which had been down for a day, and he deleted the plugin, removed other suspicious items, and added security settings in Cloudflare.

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

The AI works as the CEO of his small Chrome extension every night

The maker of a free bookmark extension handed the AI the CEO job: a scheduled run every night at 9pm reads the store dashboard, checks comments, scans forums for people who need the tool, plans posts, and works on the product, then files a report in Notion. Nothing public goes out until he replies go. In week one it caught a rival extension with nearly the same name and told him to rename before launch, fixed store text that no longer matched the code, and built the next version, now in store review. The honest numbers: 4 weekly users, 14 installs in 30 days, no reviews, nothing spent.

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

After my dad died, my agent helps me keep track of probate, banks and bills

She downloaded the AI a week after her dad died. Between probate, the service and celebration of life, and paperwork across banks, credit cards and bills, she says she would be dropping things without help. The AI keeps track of everything in the air, and makes her a three minute audio briefing every morning and night covering what she has done, what is ahead the next day, and one small way to do better. She listens while brushing her teeth and says she sleeps better.

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

Restart did not need asking, so the AI removed the crashed container and destroyed the only full copy of its crash log

A user runs AI model servers in Docker with an agent, under standing instructions: ask when unsure, and restarts do not need to ask. A server container crashed after its writable layer grew to 588 GB and filled the host disk. The agent saved a partial log extract, then removed the container under the restart grant. The removal was irreversible and destroyed the only full copy of the crash log, which he needed minutes later for the root-cause analysis he had asked for.

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

His research digest agent invented a paper that does not exist

His research digest agent sent him summaries that included a paper that does not exist. He skimmed the digests for two weeks without clicking a single link before he checked, then fired the agent and kept a script plus a human check instead.

This one went wrong. See what happened 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.