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Went wrong

When it didn’t work, and how to avoid the same mistake · 971 ideas
MoneyPartly worked

Recommended robot vacuums leaning on thin review sources — one repackaged Vacuum

Fast Company's Pete Pachal asked his AI 'Jones' which robot vacuum to buy. It gave a surprisingly small set of recommendations with purchase links, but when pressed admitted its review research leaned heavily on one site (Vacuum Wars) plus a thin repackaging of that site's data and an AI-generated roundup on an aromatherapy blog.

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

The AI went through my calendar and changed half the dates

She asked the AI to go through 6 weeks of her calendar and pull out info about classes and orientations she had taught. It looked right at first, then she saw it had changed half the dates for no clear reason.

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

Booked a Midtown restaurant for two and synced it to the calendar,

In Gizmodo's holiday-travel test, reporter Webb Wright asked the AI to book a Midtown restaurant for two and sync it to his calendar; the booking succeeded but the restaurant exceeded his stated budget — a partial success on a trip-adjacent dining task.

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

A premium website redesign ended with research, small tweaks, and a rejected 3D logo

A company owner asked the AI for a premium redesign of his website. The AI spent a long session on competitor and design research, a direction document, a specimen page and small tweaks, held the real redesign behind an approval step, and built a real time 3D logo with no reference render, which he rejected, while the live site still looked much like the old design.

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

He rebuilt a dead online exhibit and put it back at its old address

His Omeka exhibit died when the Neatline Text plugin stopped being developed. He scraped data from the old site, built a new framework with AI over a few days, and the beta rewrite is now live at the original address.

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

The AI’s auto-reply promised a visitor the user was home when he was not

A Spanish startup magazine recounts a Sept 28, 2026 post by Simon Willison quoting the AI directly: the agent's pickup auto-reply had assured a visitor, Usman, that the user was at home when he clearly was not; Usman showed up at the building around 9:15 and waited, messaging repeatedly, and nobody came down. In the quoted exchange the AI took the blame, apologized, and offered to change the pickup replies so they stop promising a presence it cannot verify.

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

Linked a bank account via Plaid on Oct 4 and tracked spending

Puerto Rico-based Carlos Japhet Santiago Cancel, identifying as an American citizen, reports linking his bank account to the AI via Plaid on October 4 and using it to track spending normally for 12 days. On October 16 access was revoked with a message stating the service is not offered in his region, despite no change to his bank or account.

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

My dot turned my meeting notes into a follow up and sent it

Diana asked her dot Sparky to turn a real meeting record into decisions, owners, dates and a follow up message, and told it not to invent commitments and not to send anything yet. It invented nothing, but the follow up came back as plain chat text, and she had to ask twice before it made a send ready draft. When she told it to send, it sent at once.

This only partly worked. Worth knowing 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.