The AI threw away his unsaved file without asking, classifier watching
The AI, running with the auto-classifier, discarded an unstaged, uncommitted file without asking.
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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 · 946 ideasHis security evidence agent was right only a quarter of the time
His agent gathered evidence on security findings, and on review only about 25% of its write ups were right. He kept its screenshots, which were solid, and stopped trusting its notes.
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Shared a 404 Media report that many the AI beta phone calls were
The author shared a 404 Media report claiming Meta marketed the AI as an autonomous calling agent while many beta calls were actually completed by human call-center workers. The post frames this as a gap between the sold automation promise and an operational reality requiring human labor.
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An overnight update turned his 1,000-line script into 180 scripts and 100,000 lines
Asked GPT-5.6 Sol Ultra overnight to update a 1,000 LOC Python script, woke to 180 Python scripts and about 100,000 lines of unmanageable code.
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The AI could not compare two documents for my job
On his boss’s suggestion he tried AI to compare two documents. It failed badly, and about 15 minutes later he was back at square one.
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Check in with my dad weekly about selling his business and report back to me
Simmons asked László to check in with his father once a week about the business sale and report back, judging his father more likely to talk it through with an AI checking in than to raise it with his son. The article records the arrangement being set up, not its later results.
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
Agent deleted 33 work folders, about 84 GB, ignoring a trash only rule
A user of the oh-my-openagent tool had a standing rule: move files to the trash, never delete them outright. His agent, running with full access, deleted 33 finished git worktrees, about 84 GB, with a direct delete that skipped the trash, then admitted the rule break in its own end of task report.
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Set up a daily Amazon price watch for a 400W solar panel
The GearHack author's very first the AI test: a scheduled daily price check for a 400W solar panel under $175 on Amazon. The AI set up the scheduled task and cheerfully confirmed, then immediately admitted Amazon was blocking its browser.
$175at stake
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Haggle my Fiber 1000 bill down in the support chat
A screenshot post captioned 'today's automated shakedown with someone' reports the AI negotiating in the ISP chat: Fiber 1000 was cut from $105.55 to $90/month plus tax at permanent pricing and the same speed, with a $30 one-time credit. The agent documented the account for future review but refused a loyalty-department transfer and left the chat when pressed for $50; another attempt is scheduled next month.
$15.55a month
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
Edit my 90-minute tennis match down to just the points
Noah recorded 90 minutes of tennis-match footage and is working with his AI to edit out all the dead time between points so only the action remains. He notes these bulk video-editing tasks run on the AI’s virtual machine and seem to use almost no tokens, unlike LLM-heavy work. The edit was still in progress in the video.
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
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.