Use an agent to build reporter and rental lists
A reporter had Manus gather topic experts, scan apartment ads, and identify award nominees, then stepped in when the results were incomplete or blocked.
Manus
Agent Uses · 1,321 real examples
What people are really doing with AI agents
Real examples, collected from Reddit, X, Hacker News, blogs and the press, of people handing work to AI agents: what they asked for, what happened, what went wrong, and a prompt you can copy to try it yourself.
The day's AI news plus 3 agent uses you can try, with ready-to-paste prompts. Free; unsubscribe anytime.
Use AI to map a thesis literature review
They used ChatGPT to summarize papers and sketch the review, then switched to a source-first tool to cut citation risk.
ChatGPT
Let AI triage resumes before human review
Recruiters used AI to condense applications, filter obvious misses, and leave the final shortlist for a person.
Custom agent
Use Operator to juggle move-related bookings and errands
A reporter had Operator help with move-day errands, but several tasks still needed manual fixes and approvals.
Operator
Ask Alexa+ about uploaded documents and emails
Alexa+ can pull details from uploaded files and turn school messages into calendar help.
Alexa+
Use Operator to shop, play a game, and gather course details
A developer used Operator to finish a deepfake game, search for jeans, and pull together course details from a website.
OperatorClaude computer use
Transfer Notion entries into a shared Sheet
Devin was tested on routine data work, including copying a Notion table into Google Sheets.
Devin
Have Devin gather research sources, then verify them
Answer.AI tested Devin on paper-finding and transcript research jobs, but it stalled on HTML and produced vague, off-target output.
Devin
Book a restaurant table with OpenTable and pause first
Operator handled an OpenTable search for Beretta in San Francisco, corrected the location, and waited before confirming.
Operator
Let a background agent watch tasks and open PRs
A team keeps a server-based agent running so Cursor can monitor work and turn finished tasks into pull requests.
Cursor
Build an AI to-do app with Replit Agent
A non-developer used Replit Agent V2 to ship a live AI to-do web app in under 9 hours.
Replit Agent
Write a refund request for an unwanted renewal
They used ChatGPT to help push back after Skillshare renewed a plan they say they never approved.
ChatGPT
Use Devin for one integration, one migration, and a review
Answer.AI tested Devin on three coding tasks, but the migration stalled and the security pass mixed valid findings with mistakes.
DevinCursor
Use an AI phone agent to book a clinic visit
A clinic’s phone AI took over an appointment booking call, handling the scheduling without a human receptionist.
Custom agent
Update a Vue 2 Electron repo in small reviewable chunks
Kearney had Devin carry a production Electron codebase from Vue 2 to Vue 3 while refreshing dependencies and checking progress in small batches.
Devin
Scan Reddit and X for likely leads
They set up an agent to watch Reddit and Twitter for product-related mentions, then reviewed the best matches and follow-up exports.
Custom agent
Build a simple buy-order imbalance scanner
A commenter used Replit’s agent to make a scanner that flags when buy orders outweigh sell orders in U.S. and Australian stocks.
Replit Agent
Use a voice agent to book a DMV slot by phone
A voice agent placed the call, worked through the phone menu, and set up a DMV appointment for Olivia Moore.
Custom agent
Turn blood test PDFs into a charting app
A developer used Claude to convert MyChart lab PDFs into a browser tool that tracked values over time and marked out-of-range results.
Claude
Have Devin make a chess app with an AI opponent
An early tester used Devin to create a chess program where the user played a language model, and the build stalled before completion.
Devin
Build and deploy a Game of Life site
A developer used Devin to create an interactive Game of Life website, add requested features step by step, and publish it to Netlify.
Devin
Use Devin to ship a small game and site
A tester had Devin produce a Pong-like game plus a website, and the work wrapped up in less than 20 minutes.
Devin
Try lowering your Comcast bill with chat support
A chatbot handled Comcast’s support chat for an engineer and won a $10 monthly discount.
ChatGPT
Use an agent to book travel, then stop before paying
A developer had an agent research and fill in flights and hotels, then pause once it reached the payment screen.
Claude CoworkClaude in Chrome