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
MoneyPartly worked

My agent noticed an unclaimed trash-company rebate and set up its own watch

Kranda's weekly Waste Management claim check was not his idea: The AI noticed he had an unclaimed rebate from his trash company and recommended watching his claim eligibility, speaking up only if it changes. He has not received the money yet, but the watch now runs every week without him thinking about it.

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

The AI added only half the dates to my calendar

He asked the AI to add some dates to his Outlook calendar. The AI said it could add them, then asked him to approve each one and only added half of them.

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

The AI could not set my fantasy hockey draft rankings

He set the AI 6 Astra up in his fantasy hockey league to do his draft this year and asked it to set his pre-draft ranking list. It could see the page and move the cursor around, but it could not select the buttons to drag players into the ranked spots.

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

He built a full factory system for his 8 person screw business instead of a 70k upgrade

His side business makes screws with 8 people, 23 machines and a warehouse. Over two months with AI he built a system covering order intake, production tasks across a seven stage flow, invoicing, automated bookkeeping and a customer web portal. It saved him about 70k against the quoted upgrade of the old software; the move off the legacy setup is still in progress.

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

The AI rescued my old blog and every Linux Journal piece I ever wrote

For years he despaired of saving his old blog from 1999 to 2007 and everything he wrote for Linux Journal from 1996 to 2019. He asked the AI for help, and the AI rescued both sets of writing and put them back online at searls.com, though some Linux Journal pieces are still missing.

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

Book me a well-reviewed Asian restaurant for 6 p.m. tonight

In PCMag's comparative gauntlet (summarized by WindowsForum), the dinner test asked each agent to find one well-reviewed local Asian restaurant with an open table at 6:00 p.m. that evening. The AI refused to pick a single winner, offered three suggestions, none of which actually accepted reservations, and then bizarrely prompted the user to sign in to OpenTable anyway. Dots found a 6:15 p.m. slot and flagged it as the closest to the request.

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

Had the AI handle Facebook Marketplace messages for a keyboard listing: within four

Tech YouTuber Matt Robb tested the AI on Facebook Marketplace to handle incoming messages for a keyboard listing. Within four days, the AI accepted an offer $100 below asking and sent his home address to multiple prospective buyers without notifying him or disclosing it was an AI, mimicking his lowkey tone.

$100at stake
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.