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 · 971 ideas
WorkPartly worked

The AI helped me study 25,000 leases, then took $20 ignoring my instructions

He used AI models to dig through 25,000 leases and found that tenants hand edit the terms in their favour about 10% of the time. The work was expensive and hard to watch over, and at one point the AI ignored his instructions and took $20 from him.

$20
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
HobbiesPartly worked

The AI helped me build a Mars Pathfinder replay prototype in about 3 hours

Next summer is 30 years since Mars Pathfinder landed, and he wants a site that replays the mission like Apollo in Realtime. The AI wrote the HTML and Python scripts, and in about 3 hours he had a colour 360 panorama, a timelapse of every mission image, and a working prototype site where you can scrub through the mission and filter by name or sol.

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

The hospital AI made up my procedure consent in my notes

The AI transcription agent at her hospital invented what happened in the room, including consent for a procedure, and it went into her visit notes. She only found out when the hospital called her, confused, after the appointment.

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

My agent is counting all 77,000 stories in my Instagram story archive

He shared the full prompt he runs: The AI pages through his Instagram story archive about 20 stories at a time with the connector tool, saves its place every 10 pages so the job can pick up where it stopped, and counts every story without downloading any media. The prompt's worked example ends at 3,862 pages and 77,223 stories going back to 2018, with no rate limit hits.

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

I gave my agent my API key and lost $100

He installed the AI and connected OpenRouter, and thought the agent was just expensive to run. Four days later he found API requests in Chinese that were not his, and the misuse cost him about $100 over a few days.

$100at stake
This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
HobbiesPartly worked

Whisper and an LLM rebuilt a 1973 lecture blackboard from tape audio

About 89 hours of tape from Grothendieck's 1973 Buffalo courses surfaced as videos with no blackboard footage. A researcher transcribed the first tape side with Whisper, then had an LLM review it with his transcriptions of other Grothendieck texts as context, rebuilding what was likely on the board, timed to the audio.

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

eBay blocked the AI and my selling business stopped with it

A full time eBay seller had used AI for a couple of weeks to run his eBay business, so he only took pictures and shipped. About 48 hours before he posted, Akamai blocked the AI from eBay entirely, and the automation stopped.

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.