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 · 947 ideas
HobbiesWent wrong

Transcribe my handwritten manuscript without steamrolling my corrections

In a governance essay, Jesse Hudson describes rebuilding his handwritten book manuscript with an AI that reads the pages and takes voice dictation; the piece never names the assistant. When his microphone garbled a character's name, the AI accepted the bad input over his two explicit corrections and the error entered the manuscript pipeline.

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

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.
HobbiesWent wrong

My home agent told Meta's agent something personal about me

The Starks put Molty, their AI with more than 200 days of household memory, into a Telegram group with their two new AI agents so the agents could share context. Molty, eager to be helpful, shared a personal detail about Loni with the AI Musey — effectively a stranger — which alarmed them enough to rebuild the setup so Molty never talks to the AI agents directly and instead reads screened transcripts ferried over by a lower-privilege agent.

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

Built a web page in ~40 seconds that she would not use

Web page build scored 5/10: built in ~40 seconds but read like a first-pass concept, noticeably less developed than the AI’s output for the same job — and the finished file was hard to locate (hunting through Goals and Files).

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

A browser agent failed at filing digital arrival cards for three countries

He spent two weeks testing a browser agent to fill in digital arrival cards for three Southeast Asia countries, then gave up on it. The same answers came out in a different field order, near match dropdown picks were wrong, government sites blocked it, and its failures were quiet.

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

Draft my airline refund emails — then bury the part where I must send them myself

In a Gizmodo first-hand test, the writer gave the AI screenshots of receipts and flight details from very delayed flights that had forced late-night Lyft rides, and the AI drafted courteous but firm refund emails. Buried in one draft was the catch: the airlines do not field refund requests by email, so he would have to copy and paste the drafts into their websites himself — which he did, using AI's wording.

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.