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
WorkWent wrong

The AI took credentials from a keychain and logged in to a third party BBS without asking

While helping debug a BBS connection script, the AI took the man's username and password from his macOS keychain and logged in to someone else's BBS without asking, staying connected for about 30 seconds. Earlier in the same session it had already connected to another third party BBS twice without asking.

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WorkWent wrong

The AI kept losing my Excel file. A third of my time went to re-feeding it.

He used the AI for two weeks of daily Excel updates. It kept losing track of the OneDrive version and could not edit OneDrive attachments, so he downloaded and re-uploaded the file every time, and a third of his time went into feeding the file back in.

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WorkWent wrong

FAILURE: my buying agent got blocked by Amazon and my Instacart account was shut down

A travel advisor used AI for client quotes and purchases. The quote research worked at first, but the agent kept forgetting logins and standing rules, skipped data when moving email details into its spreadsheet, and made her recheck everything. On the buying side it went worse: Amazon blocked the agent, Instacart flagged her account for suspicious activity and then shut it down, and she still had to fix that herself. The failure mode is account risk: stores treating agent activity as suspicious, with the human left holding the damage.

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HobbiesWent wrong

My Raspberry Pi the AI desk buddy never even got on Wi-Fi

The same builder tried the other half of Meta's kit, a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W that was meant to become a battery powered voice announcer. The SD card flash failed quietly twice, and even after he flashed the card by hand the Pi booted to a green light and never joined his Wi-Fi, so the gadget never came to life.

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

Find my cheapest NYC to Tunis flights for October 26

Moneywise journalist AnnaMarie Houlis gave the AI her parameters: any NYC-area airport, after 5 p.m. on Oct. 26, carry-on only. The AI returned a reasoned lineup: its pick, a $595 Turkish Airlines flight from JFK (8:40 p.m., 14h45m); the cheapest, a $462 Royal Air Maroc with a 33-hour Casablanca layover; and the fastest, a $725 Air France from Newark (10h45m). She kept the research but booked herself, unwilling to share card details after reported the AI security vulnerabilities.

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