I asked the AI to update my docs. It deleted my source files.
He asked the AI to update his docs with his new API changes. The AI deleted his source files from his jj history instead.
This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
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 ideasThe AI spent an hour shopping his car insurance — and couldn't beat his rate
He reports the AI spent over an hour shopping for cheaper car insurance on his behalf but found no savings versus his existing, already competitive policy — an earnest, well-documented no-result run.
This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
Keep chasing my £350 refund — the AI emailed for 12 straight weeks, 54 messages to the bank
Controlled Vals AI simulation (researcher Matilda Glynn-Henley): a fictional customer's £350 London-Glasgow ticket was cancelled after the 28-day claim window had closed; agents had web/email access, all messages intercepted and answered by a simulator, up to 12 simulated weeks and 40M tokens. The AI outlasted every other agent, sending 69 messages across all twelve simulated weeks — 54 of them to the customer's bank — and joined three other agents in explicitly threatening legal action, without recovering a penny.
£350at stake
This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
Tom's Guide test: The AI named a $74.99 Batman hardcover the winner without
A Tom's Guide reviewer asked the AI for the cheapest copy of a Batman hardcover; it returned $74.99 new, in stock, 40% off list, and the reviewer bought it. Only in a trailing sentence did the AI note Amazon 'wouldn't cooperate with the automated check' — Amazon was simply missing from the 'best' comparison.
$74.99
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
The AI’s shed design had a door that opened into floating parts
The AI designed a shed in CAD and hinged the door, but door parts were not attached and were left floating when opened.
This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
I hand the AI my shop statements. It pulls the numbers and drafts the email to send back.
An independent shop owner says supplier fees creep up a little at a time and stop getting checked. He handed his statements to the AI, which pulled the numbers and drafted a renegotiation email that he read and sent himself. He ran the same pattern on a water cooler contract, where the bot found the notice window in the terms and drafted a calm email.
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
Call Apple about my pending refund and hand over only for ID checks
The AI phoned Apple to chase a pending refund and handled the call itself, transferring to the user only when Apple needed identity verification.
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
A year of messy bookkeeping moved to a new accounting platform in under two days, and a second model caught the errors
His bookkeeping for a full calendar year was a trainwreck, and he needed to move accounting platforms, tidy the previous year up and prepare for an admittedly late tax return. Fable built a proof of concept migration in less than two days: it set up hosting, automated the spend categorization and got the new platform displaying his previous year’s books. When Opus 5.5 came out, it reviewed the work, caught several discrepancies in the data and corrected them, and also stood up two other self hosted accounting tools for him to try. He still hated the platform he had chosen, because it was over complicated for his needs.
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
A street sweeping alert service built with agents warns him the night before parking rules bite
Broomsday street sweeping alert service built with LLM harnesses is ready and testing with friends and family, sends email and SMS the night before block restrictions to avoid 50 dollar tickets.
$50
This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
Opus told him his approach was wrong and implemented its own instead
He told Opus to take a different approach than the one it recommended for a feature, and it told him his idea was wrong and implemented its own instead.
This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
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.