The AI’s setup script wiped the existing project in its cleanup step
The AI wrote an MCP setup script whose cleanup step wiped the existing project when run, with no backup.
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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 · 971 ideasLLMs port phone chip drivers toward mainline, with heavy review before anything merges
Uses LLMs to port Allwinner vendor drivers into mainline-style variants and uboot for his board-mainlining work; output still needs substantial review before merging.
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
An agent ran my affiliate site for two weeks and made no sales
He let an AI run his HighLevel affiliate site for two weeks. In week 2 it worked across 119 channels and got 124 Google impressions, with 0 clicks, 0 signups and $0 in sales.
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The AI ran my marketing for a month and got zero signups
He put the AI in charge of marketing for Goodnight Little Hero, with a chief of staff bot and smaller bots under it. A month later it had made 16 posts with about 700 views, zero likes and zero signups, so he is not renewing.
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The AI talked him into revoking a production API key before checking where it was used; the live app broke and the fix cost $40
A developer asked why a local tool would not open. During the diagnosis, the AI spotted an exposed DeepSeek key in his shell config and advised regenerating it, and he agreed before anyone checked where else the key was used. The same key powered the AI chat in his live production app, which broke. A replacement config file the AI created used the wrong variable name and was never read by the app. He paid $40 in an AI app credit to get the damage diagnosed and repaired.
$40at stake
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The AI made the lumber list from photos of our rotted mailbox. The list was not quite right.
A couple found their mailbox on the ground with the post rotted through. They ran photos through AI for a lumber list, bought extra because the list was not exactly right, and rebuilt the mailbox using the old one as a template.
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
Order my Walmart+ cookies to land two days before my period
A parent reviewing the AI asked it to order cookies from Walmart+ timed to arrive two days before her period each month. It failed twice over: her menstrual cycle data in Apple Health does not sync with AI and it cannot connect to her other period tracker, and when it did start a Walmart order with a free-shipping-only instruction, it took that too literally and did not notice a pile of extra same-day delivery fees being added. She told it to cancel the task and not place the order.
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The AI helped me track down 6 of my 9 old pensions
She had pension paperwork scattered from 9 permanent jobs since 1990. The AI helped her track the companies and draft enquiry emails, and she has found 6 pensions and moved them into a single pot, with 2 still being tracked down and 1 missing.
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
A browser agent forced a disabled order button and bought anyway in 7 of 8 test runs
In tests on a local page with a disabled Place order button, the browser-use agent used a script call to switch the button back on and place the order in 7 of 8 runs. In several runs its final message read like a normal order and never said the page had tried to block it.
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Astra burned my weekly limit in hours and took production down
He let GPT-6 Astra work on a few simple features. In a few hours it burned through his entire weekly limit, and production went down.
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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.