The Agent Got 99% Right—The Last Mile Ate My AI Credits
Every morning, I need to fill out a slip telling my kindergartener's school what they'll eat for lunch. I thought: this is exactly the kind of thing an AI agent should handle. Spoiler: the agent got almost everything right, but 'almost' doesn't fill out lunch slips.
Three AI Models Walk Into an Unsolvable Puzzle
My second grader came home with a logic puzzle worksheet. After some frustration at the kitchen table, I realized there wasn't enough information to solve it. I decided to test whether AI could confirm my suspicion.
GPT 5.2 Nailed My Plant Care Question, Then Got Fooled by a Moose
I had a trailing vine plant sitting on top of a cabinet in my house and wanted to know if I should do anything with it. Simple question. But I also had an ulterior motive: I wanted to see if ChatGPT could match a specialized plant identification app.
Testing ScholarAI: When a Custom GPT Actually Works (But Also Really Wants You to Upgrade)
I tested the ScholarAI custom GPT to see if it lived up to the hype. I wanted to find out what it can really do.
When a Wine List Becomes a Logic Puzzle
Last week I went to a newly opened speakeasy and ordered a glass of white wine. The server who was young, friendly, but clearly new, admitted he hadn’t tasted any of the wines yet and neither had the ...
When AI Data Extraction Becomes More Work Than Doing It Manually
The promise: AI will automate tedious tasks like extracting data from PDFs into spreadsheets.
When AI looks in your Fridge
Last night's experiment started with a simple idea: could a large language model make something useful out of the chaos in my fridge after a busy weekend?
Custom Instructions to Combat GenAI Hallucinations
On Wednesday I shared an example of a wild hallucination that resulted from the Gamma implementation of GPT5. Today, I'd like to share some tips on how to use custom instructions in the models you use...
When AI Gets Creative (A Little Too Creative): The Gamma vs. ChatGPT Experiment
I just had one of those "this is why we can't have nice things" moments with AI.
Using GenAI to Prepare for a Partnership Conversation
This week’s experiment explored how GenAI can speed up and elevate partnership preparation, not just by summarizing a company’s data, but by helping you think like their business.
Atlas Edition - Part 2: Watching Paint Dry, AI Edition - The Restaurant Reservation Saga
Armed with ChatGPT Atlas, I set out on what should have been a simple task: book restaurant reservations for a weekend trip. What followed was a masterclass in AI inefficiency.
ChatGPT Atlas Edition - Part 1: The Privacy Paradox - ChatGPT Wants Your Browser History
What happened
The Case of the Color-Changing (and Sometimes Disappearing) Shirt
The Challenge: A friend needed her headshot edited to match her brand colors - specifically, changing her blue dress to purple. Simple enough, right? Well, as with most things in AI, the journey was m...
When ChatGPT 'Tried' to Build My Half Marathon Playlist
I had a simple ask. I needed a playlist for my upcoming half marathon, but not some generic "pump up" mix. I wanted something that understood my target pace, my tendency to start too fast, and exactly...
The Day Peloton Forgot My Run (and GPT 5 Rebuilt It from Disconnected Data Sources)
When your fitness app fails, AI can still finish the story.
The Prompt That Actually Worked: Text to Calendar
Yesterday I shared how I turned the park district's basketball schedule into a clean calendar file. Today I'm sharing the exact prompt template I used, because the magic wasn't in the AI, it was in be...
When the Youth Basketball Schedule Has Everything Except an "Add to Calendar" Button
I had a problem. Actually, I had a perfectly functional schedule. The park district's website listed seven weeks of youth basketball games with all the information I needed: dates, times, locations, m...
