“What’s the Most Surprising (or Useless) Thing You’ve Asked AI to Do for You?”

[#1]

Hey Atlassian Community! 🚀

With AI everywhere now—from Jira automation to my phone quietly judging my screen time—I find myself turning to ChatGPT, Gemini, or some AI tool for everything from brainstorming stories to (badly) composing shopping lists.

But here’s the fun part: sometimes AI really nails it… and sometimes, well, I end up with a to-do list that includes “remind me to blink” and a grocery list that apparently thinks I’m feeding a family of 12 for Thanksgiving.

So let’s hear it—what’s the wildest, weirdest, or most unexpectedly helpful thing you’ve used AI for lately?
Did it help you crack a problem at work? Automate a chore at home? Or give you the world’s most useless advice?

Bonus: If you’ve found a genuinely useful way to pair your “Agile brain” with AI—maybe to run retros, manage your backlog, or just keep life moving—share that too! Always looking for fresh, real-world wins (and fails).

Looking forward to the stories, experiments, and laughs. And yes, I will absolutely try your best AI+Agile life hacks!

—John

[Swati Rastogi]

Asked AI to create a hypothetical marketing campaign for a home made ice cream food truck. Found it pretty genius with pretty words and ideas, but then realized how there's so many permits involved in real life, didn't went too far past the drafting stage, though used the idea for creating advertising for the unused stuff I sell on fb marketplace app and it makes the information quite appealing!

[Daria Kulikova_GitProtect_io]

I think that without ChatGPT, it would be impossible for my daughter to finish this school year.... Or, it's better to say for me to help her finish this school year. The case is that in the city where we live, it is dangerous to go to school offline now; online is the only option available (and I'm eagerly waiting for normal offline education - fingers crossed). Thus, their teachers give extra huge homework, and she was doing pretty well all year round till the day she needed to write 4 compositions and read a long story, and write a review of it - and all of it for the same day.

So, I decided to help her. I made a prompt, got an answer, told my daughter to rewrite the text (she didn't know that it was AI), and the next day her teacher asked her if she really read the book to write such a review, and my daugther said "yes", trusting that I knew what I wrote. But AI generated absolutely random story, and there weren't even characters like she had in the real story. My daughter got a bad mark and said that I played a bad joke on her. So, checking information even if it's for homework is crucial :) 

[Barbara Szczesniak]

I am old, I guess, but I still have no idea why I would ask AI to do anything for me. I feel like it would lead to cognitive decline if I didn't think for myself anymore. 

When navigation systems first came out for cars, I remember people talking about how they got lost going places they knew how to get to because the GPS told them to go the wrong way. 

[Andy Gladstone]

I have turned to ChatGPT to find rare or weird sports records that are not readily available on the main websites that represent the sport. Like, most OT losses by an NHL goalie, or MLB player with the highest average bat velocity. In many cases there is no way to really determine whether the answer is correct or not since it has to come from multiple sources, but at least it's entertaining!

[Lori Brown]

It's pretty good at coming up with scripts to use when you go to the doctor if you're having trouble coming up with phrasing that is clear and that you're comfortable using. At least, for those of us who are more comfortable with technology and tend to side-eye real people suspiciously.

[Amanda Barber]

@Daria Kulikova_GitProtect_io - it might be worth checking out Google Gemini's canvas features, as well as Notebook LM for assistance in learning activities! Not sure where you're located, but Outschool has been a lifesaver when doing schooling at home!

[Daria Kulikova_GitProtect_io]

Thank you @Amanda Barber for the advice, I will definitely check it out :) 

[Dave Liao]

@John D Patton - good prompt! Did you use AI to draft this article? 😉 

For me, I've used AI to write up Groovy scripts - the best part? It will include cases I'm too lazy to code myself or haven't necessarily considered.

It's a starting point and helps in cases where I'm staring at a blank page and aren't positive where to begin. 🥲

[Loren Siegel]

I recently asked ChatGPT to recommend a cold medicine regimen for me, as I'm currently in the throes of daycare colds with a 9-month-old. I also asked it how many times we're expected to get sick from daycare 🫠 - it said to expect 6-12 colds a year for me and baby 😭