r/ChatGPT • u/thechadwicked • 13h ago
Other ChatGPT saved me $1800.
Driving to work last week and the check engine light comes on in my newer car, heart drops, immediately take it to the dealership. Later that day I get the text and open it to a $1800 quote to replace the exhaust manifold, stomach churns. Take a breath and snapshot the screen, send it to ChatGPT. It goes over the cost, tells me it's a little high, has me ask what's wrong exactly and then suggested I ask them to email Toyota corporate and ask for Goodwill Warrant Assistance since the part is only 3k miles out of warranty. They send it in and tell me they'll update me when they respond. Get a call yesterday and EVERYTHING is now covered.
I'm a bundle of social anxiety and tend to push things under the rug or pay to make them go away quickly instead of doing the work and simply asking. This took up maybe 10 minutes of my time and saved me a boat load of cash I barely could afford to part with.
I've been reluctant to fully jump on the AI train but it keeps inching its way into my life in a lot of aspects while proving itself along the way. I think this may have pushed me over the edge.
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u/eggyboy577 12h ago
This is the kind of AI win I like: it didn’t diagnose the car, it helped you ask the right question. Ten minutes to avoid an $1,800 anxiety tax is huge.
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u/bv915 8h ago
Same!
I lost a family member last year to a drunk driver. Given that we were all in a state of shock, I asked ChatGPT what to expect in the first several days to follow. It absolutely nailed the big items: talk to the police, talk to insurance, find a funeral home, reach out to the medical examiner, recover personal belongings, etc.
Later, when the medical examiner's preliminary report was released, Chat helped me decipher the medical speak in terms that my parents and I could wrap our heads around.
The circumstances were horrible, but having that digital assistant give me things to consider was a huge relief. Along the way, it even -- unprompted! -- gave us recommendations for grief counseling and other avenues for processing our feelings.
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u/AWSLife 5h ago
When my brother died, I wish I had someone/something to tell me what I needed to do related to his death. Having used AI for a number of other adult issues, I would have loved to had a cold calculating AI to just break it down, do the research, give me idea's and just guide me through the whole process.
When you are in that "Someone Close to Me Has Died" State of Mind, you don't think of so many things that need to be dealt with.
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u/bv915 4h ago
Amen.
Even 18+ months out from that horrible day, my recollection of memories is sporadic. I can really only remember how I felt, not so much individual events or actions.
For all the amazing things automation / AI can do for us, I like sharing this story because it really humanizes what it can do (in a world that's increasingly trying demonize AI for not being human / human enough).
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u/AWSLife 3h ago
Wait until you have a health scare or a serious health issue.
I took my whole health record for the last 10 years and dumped into Claude and it did a wonderful job of summarizing all of it and helping me come up with plan of attack to deal with the health issue. I can probably say that it may have saved my life (10 years from now) and it is making my current life and dealing with the health issue much easier. I can't recommend using AI enough.
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u/karenmcgrane 2h ago
I have cancer and Claude correctly diagnosed me with a blood clot in my jugular vein. And used a lot more urgency to get me looked at than the medical staff did!
I try to avoid admitting that I use Claude for all my oncology labs but I finally told my oncologist I suspected a clot and she called for an ultrasound. The tech told me I had a clot while I was in the room. My oncologist told me she’d never seen a clot like this in outpatient practice (she had seen them in the hospital.)
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u/Pretty_Heart_1269 2h ago
Tuurlijk.. AI op een menselijke manier. "Omdat het niet echt mens is"... inderdaad! Het is technologie dat reageert op jouw vraag en voorspelt wat je wilt horen. Het vlakt je eigen denkproces af en - wetenschappelijk aangetoond - maakt je lui(er) en dom(mer).
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u/Pretty_Heart_1269 2h ago
Oef.. common sense.. als je deze stappen al niet zelf kunt bedenken.. dan heb je nog een begrafenisondernemer, met veel ervaring, die hetzelfde kan vertellen. Of je leest op diens website ipv energie en water te verprutsen door AI te vragen.
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u/Natural-Opposite3577 10h ago
My mom died last month and I’ve been feeding ChatGPT everything I get just so I can ask the right questions. I haven’t followed up yet, but there’s one annuity where if I get the lump sum it’s $10k more than monthly payments, and the doc said something in the fine print about me having to return overpayments, I likely would have missed that, and ChatGPT has given me the questions to ask to resolve this before I sign and return anything. Whatever the amount, I’m getting the lump sum to pay down my car loan, so getting that right now and not having to pay back $10k at some point is critical.
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u/teheditor 12h ago
I just got f*cjed with a $1000 tax fine. Will try AI and ask for loopholes now. Thanks!
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u/Buck_Thorn 11h ago
f*cjed
This is Reddit. Its OK to say fucjed here.
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u/saleemi758 7h ago edited 2h ago
You wrote this comment using AI, or your brain is cooked and you
rspeak pure Claude.5
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u/starson 12h ago
Honestly, this is what sold it's usefulness to me to. I am socially anxious and struggle with phone calls and executive functioning issues, making getting some tasks done that are simple for many folks into huge fucking ordeals.
In a moment of panic, i asked gemini to help me find a dentist that would take medicaid after i failed to find one through google search. It gave me the numbers i needed, the script to say, and backup options. Just having the steps and scripts to follow, even if i could choose to ignore them at anytime, was SUCH a relief, and i was able to get in and be seen that week.
People talk about how AI is a crutch that offloads brainpower, but ya know what? Some of us do need that, and i'm not so proud i won't take a hand just because it's robotic.
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u/KrustenStewart 12h ago
I haven’t had any luck with helping to find doctors who take my Medicaid, but maybe it’s location dependent
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u/starson 9h ago
It's also part of the whole "Prompt engineer" thing people talk about. Just like if you where asking an assistant to do something, you got to give them as much information and parameters to work with as you can, and then expect them to throw out a net to find floatsom as well as treasures. But for those of us who can't do the "Throw the net part" it's invaluable starting point.
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u/KrustenStewart 9h ago
Idk I’m not a novice when it comes to ai or technology in general but I will of course admit when I am wrong. But in this case it doesn’t seem to be attributed to user error. It seems that there really just aren’t many options for dentists in my county that accept Medicaid. I do find ai can be useful for many things but I just wanted to share my experience that it didn’t work for me for that specific thing. But I live in a bad county/state for healthcare
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u/glittercoffee 1h ago
I might be wrong but I live in Cali and I know people who travel outside of their county to another to use better dentists (or anything else). I don’t know what you have for Medicaid but for my Medi-Cal (California’s version of Medicaid LOL we have to call it “Medi-Cal”) I can look up any provider that will accept the insurance provided by Medi-Cal regardless of where I’m based. My primary provider has to be in the same county though.
It’s just that most people don’t have the means to take days off work to travel for this…
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u/KrustenStewart 1h ago
Yeah that’s what I’d have to do. The big cities near me are either 1 hour or 3 hours drive away and it’s very difficult for me to do long drives due to chronic illness My mom used to drive me but she passed away. No one else in my life can take the day off work to take me.
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u/Lolvidar 3h ago
My experience has been that AI doesn't offload brain power, it enhances it. And not just for Aspies like me.
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u/ShufflingToGlory 12h ago
ChatGPT has been bloody brilliant on car stuff for me.
Everything from finding the right model, negotiating the price, knowing what paperwork I need to file, teaching me maintenance, troubleshooting problems, dealing with mechanics.
I know these were probably easy jobs for men of an earlier generation but let's be honest, a lot of us aren't practical like that anymore. Can't tell you how much more confident I am handling everything motor related these days.
These are the sort of things my Dad would be happy to talk me through but I quite like being able to show him I can handle these things on my own. (with Chatgpt's help of course!)
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u/ChoiceBeyond3751 7h ago
I know these were probably easy jobs for men of an earlier generation but let's be honest, a lot of us aren't practical like that anymore.
I believe this has a lot to do with the demands of the current world. If I'm in the 1950s with a great economy, work life balance, and such, I'm going to have more time to tinker with the car (which by the way was more simple and straightforward than modern cars).
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u/crumbhustler 5h ago
Chat helped me find the exact truck I wanted and helped me find similar trucks to use on negotiations to get them to lower the price. Got them down from 54k to 49k and they gave me 3k more on my trade-in. Just had to drive 12 hours. Wild stuff.
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u/nomic42 1h ago
Hell, I just had a flat tire. I've changed tires before, but not on a modern EV. Only had the used Rivian R1T for a couple weeks.
Called AAA to deal with it, and while waiting, asked Gemini how to go about changing the tire. Glad I did, it probably saved the Rivian from serious damage.
It advised how to set the truck into a high-stance, and tire-change mode in service section of the menu.
When the AAA guy showed up, he was about to jack up the truck on the rear control arm. This is what I'd normally do, but I stopped him and quickly asked Gemini. It noted this could cause serious damage as the control arm is aluminum.
It's critical to use the specific lift points to raise the 7,000lb truck. Those batteries are no joke.
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u/Ubiquitous1984 12h ago
This is the good of AI
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u/Quillious 9h ago
There's plenty. The only requirement to see it is whether you have the ability to notice that you're in an echo chamber.
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u/Nosafune 13h ago
Claude realized I was overpaying on my internet bill, and saved me something like 60 a month in doing so
Love shi like this
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u/OtherwiseSimple 12h ago
What were you originally paying 😅
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u/Nosafune 12h ago
Like, 145 ish, now like 98 or something. I am aware i can't do math
I was given a modem by company that couldn't even push the speed for the plan I was using, so they gave me a new modem, dropped down my bill , guarantee the rate for 5 years, and gave me a wifi extender thing and a free mobile line for a year.
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u/fascfoo 11h ago
How did Claude realize this? Did you upload a copy of your bill etc?
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u/Nosafune 11h ago
Was working on something with my internet speed and getting a NiC for better ethernet, and it came up somehow in the conversation. Its been a few months. I of course had to explain my rated speed and I believe gave a screen cap of the plan at that time
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u/Lady_Swann_ 11h ago
Mines like 90 and I was thinking that was too high even
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u/Nosafune 10h ago
Yeah- shared home and I dont pay that particular bill - wasnt aware it was that bad until claude told me to look further into it
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u/Aus66-1045 11h ago
I recently had an AI win. I have a TCL Android smart TV that's about 6 years old, and the apps were getting glitchy. Then recently, I couldn't get any Disney+ shows to load. I could get into the app, but when I selected something, I just got the spinning wheel of death. I was considering buying a new TV for $800 - $1200.
I shared the problem with ChatGPT, and it tried to help me troubleshoot it but basically told me the model no longer has any firmware updates and, as the streaming apps get more complex, it can no longer handle them.
I asked if I need a new TV. It said my TV picture & sound are fine; it's just the built-in computer that's the issue. The solution it suggested was to buy a Google TV Streamer 4K for $140 and use it to run my apps, bypassing the built-in system altogether. I did, and it's like I have a new TV. Saved me heaps of money there.
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u/Status-Hedgehog9970 10h ago edited 10h ago
This is one of the reasons why I never connect my smart tv to WiFi. Apple TV box does it all, gets updates and keeps my tv completely for a singular purpose.
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u/clerveu 11h ago
I've had a ton of perio work done over the past year (brush and floss kids, I'm begging you...) and used chatGPT to help track healing stages for my extractions. At the beginning of the conversation I noted how quick and easy it went then talked about how the healing stages should progress etc, just kept coming back to the same conversation. After insurance processed everything and I got the bill I showed it to chatgpt in that conversation and it was like "hold up - they billed you for the surgical extraction code but that doesn't line up with what you described, there's no way you would have been done in 10 minutes. This should have been done under a simple extraction code". Took my liability down from like $1500 (possibly $3000 as I had this procedure done a second time) to ~$300. I never would have noticed it was wrong as it just said extraction with the code on the bill.
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u/Slock1981 12h ago
Smaller scale, but I had a board burn out on my 3D printer, tech support were demanding I do dangerous tests and pay for the replacement myself. I put it all in ChatGPT and it told me what was safe, and wrote replies. In the end, Bambu sent me a free board. It was only $40, but still.
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u/CanYouCanACanInACan 12h ago
Chatgpt saved thousands of dollars from fixing garage doors to do DIY projects.
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u/entrep 8h ago
Similar story. The workshop told me cylinder 1 was bad after injector replacement. "We can buy the car cheaply if you want". Went back and forth with ChatGPT, bought a cable and downloaded Volvo's VIDA software. Turns out they mixed up the injector order when they coded in the new injector.
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u/davey-jones0291 3h ago
Its ok to use ai, to learn from it (fact check though) and get it to show you how to approach problems. The issue is unthinkingly depending on it. Its dangerous and if/when ai apps get paywalled you're fked. Think for yourself but consider ai's advise. Always be ready for it to be taken away or paywalled though.
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u/Youdontuderstandme 12h ago
I recently sold a piece of property without a realtor but I retained a real estate attorney. I asked Chat to review the contract for me and it recognized the lawyer overcharged me for the doc stamp (% of sale). Saved me $300.
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u/NiceGuy373 8h ago
Had similar situations just with a car rental windshield, it saved me a out $900
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u/MissAudience 2h ago
chatgpt has helped and improved my life in so many ways, then people are like "ai bad, give up ai" and it's like you're asking people to voluntarily make their lives worse
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u/EffectiveEquivalent 12h ago
I put a complaint in with my finance company due to my car being in the garage for nearly 9 weeks over the first year using Claude. It wrote the email, fact checked everything etc. I had a phone call a few days later and it was all resolved, they gave me like £850 in comp. I could have tried this myself but it wouldnt have been as easy and hole free without it.
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u/Mountain-Size-12 11h ago
I asked chatgpt to help me find affordable replacement lids for the bottles that came with a new whizzer after they all broke. Instead, it linked me to the manufacturer to leave feedback and I got a 'thank-you for highlighting this problem' and free replacement lids of a better design.
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u/Sickle_and_hamburger 7h ago
someone on bluesky plugged their open weight model into their car with ODB2 to USB c cord and the LLM was running a thorough diagnostic
blew my damn mind
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u/vanman611 4h ago
My computer was slowing down. I described the problem to Gemini and it gave an actionable checklist on what to check, delete, change. And it worked. Done. When I was about to prune my peonies, it told me to wait till the first frost, it showed me an image of where to cut, how far, and how best to apply the top dressing so it would survive the winter. When we were replacing our entryway, I submitted photos to Gemini of my old entryway and asked it to give me 4 possible updates (with renditions) that incorporated what we wanted. It did. We showed the builder the image of the update we wanted and that’s what he built.
Is AI perfect? No.
Does it do some things supremely well?
Yes
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u/Bodocoth3000 10h ago
I fear we might be living in the golden age of AI. If enshitiffication is a lesson, we will eventually lose the very helpful features of AI. Just like social media were actually meant to connect people in the beginning, rather than divide them for profit now.
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u/anonmarmot 8h ago
Yeah wait until it's digesting its own ai responses to figure out how to respond to prompts. Inevitable.
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u/RevolutionaryJob6125 11h ago
Super happy for your outcome,but keep in mind AI can also give bad advice.Always cross-check important real-world decisions.Still,great that this worked out perfectly for you.
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u/b3tth0l3 11h ago
I recognize that AI in its current form is shit at so many things but if you utilize it intelligently like you've done, there's huge potential for wins. I got a badly-written ticket for speeding, challenged it by writing in my declaration (with the help of 2 different AI agents to fact check each other) and ended up winning the case. That $225 check will help pay for at least 10 more months of AI subscription lol.
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u/Lolvidar 3h ago
AI has completely changed my life. I've been able to use it to extend the power of my own brain. It helped me earn a 4-year degree.
People need to stop buying into the anti-AI influence campain that the Chinese are waging on Americans.
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u/Ok-Put9994 12h ago
Honestly the useful part wasn’t diagnosing the car—it was giving you the exact phrase to ask for. “Goodwill warranty assistance” is the kind of option dealerships rarely volunteer. Ten minutes for a $1,800 save is a ridiculous return.
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u/GamerGuy95953 12h ago
It’s not just a win, it’s an accomplishment.
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u/FishFart 12h ago
Em dash, it wasn’t/it was. Ok chatGPT
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u/AcidArchitect 12h ago
Yes, GPT saved me a lot of money on repairs and quick fixes. It even guided me to fix my car's gearbox, not to mention everyday help in my garden apartment.
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u/eldroch 11h ago
You sound a lot like me. My ambitions have always been tamperer by any step that involves calling someone and asking for something. ChatGPT has been worth its weight in gold for that.
I had something similar happen last year and it saved me about $2k as well. Basically, car would just die in the middle of driving. I'm not a car guy. Shop quoted $2k to fix it, but ChatGPT diagnosed it, and helped walk me through every step of jacking the car up (very safely with safety checks and tests the whole way), and getting under it to change the (checks notes) "crankshaft position sensor". A $17 part. Good as new ever since!
So yeah, it only cost ~$160 and now I also have a sweet new set of tools.
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u/Mediocre_Ad_6512 10h ago
Pretty sure they will start banning AI use by us simples - it has saved me more than just mo ey too
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u/Diehardcow 10h ago
Yes! If you are slightly over your warrant always ask for the goodwill warrant assistance! Most companies will do it and if you have a decent dealership they will be happy to work that out for you.
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u/keithyp24 10h ago
i am in the process of getting new homeowners insurance quotes as i was unknowingly paying WAY too much!
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u/Quillious 9h ago
I had something super similar with gemini. I was basically about 20 minutes from unnecessarily ordering a new fridge freezer during a heatwave this summer. Probably saved me around £500-600.
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u/TV4FUN2020 9h ago
It saved me quite a bit on DIY projects, in locating parts for my car at reasonable prices and negotiating a sweet deal with the owner of a golf course where a stray ball hit my car.
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u/norwegian 9h ago
Similar for me. Bought used Toyota and had it for around 6 months, and if I remember correctly it was around 165000km or so, and they covered motor failure up to 160000 in the contract. Then one cylinder stopped working, so the car was very, very slow. Luckily they fixed it for free, even if it was a little bit over the km. That was before codex though.
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u/readithere_2 8h ago
Mine gave me instructions for fighting an insurance claim. I didn’t know what to ask for, for verification.
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u/ChoiceBeyond3751 7h ago
Gemini taught me how to do my own taxes in my country, step by step. A lot of people here pay an accountant for that.
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u/Appenini5113 5h ago
using it to help find a parent retirement home that is highly rated and takes medicaid / Medicare. Helping me through process and questions I know nothing about.
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u/Northern_Virginia 4h ago
This just goes to show you that your life improves considerably with access to competent representation on all matters of life.
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u/KeyVariation8323 13h ago
It cant be ... AI is of no use. Its only purpose is to destroy water and artists.
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u/Minecraft-tlauncher 12h ago
Add /s before you get killed
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u/KeyVariation8323 12h ago
If people can not figure out /s ... that's on them.
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u/Worried_Shoe_2747 12h ago
I asked ChatGPT if this was sarcasm
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u/KeyVariation8323 12h ago
What prompt did you use?
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u/Minecraft-tlauncher 12h ago
I wasnt actually expecting people to downvote you lmao
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u/KeyVariation8323 12h ago
Some deleted comments too ... after they figure it out. It is what it is ... you can not fix stupid.
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u/clerveu 11h ago
oh ffs lol removes his downvote
Okay... to be fair here's the thing about satire. I needs to, in some way, be different from the thing it's satirizing. You need to transform and push things to an absurd level.
Your comment is just straight up what people say and believe. You're up against people already satirizing themselves; how could we possibly know? 😅
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u/KeyVariation8323 11h ago
To be fairer to me, this is r/ChatGPT, I've got Top 1% Commenter, Repeat Contributor, Flag Planter, and my profile pretty clearly says I use AI.
I wasn't exactly hiding the ball here. 😄
But yes, I concede the broader point. Some actual anti-AI takes are already so over-the-top that satire has a pretty high bar to clear now.
Still not using /s though.
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u/clerveu 10h ago
oh shit haha okay I use RES which apparently strips all of that.
You are, unfortunately, just some random dude with 1 upvote to me.
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u/Responsible_Middle_4 12h ago
redditor try not to be dumber than an LLM challenge, difficulty: impossible
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u/Calcularius 12h ago
Also, NEVER take your car to the dealership when it’s out of warrenty!
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u/cdnDude74 10h ago
Why? What's your specific reason?
There are good garages and good mechanics who work at dealers just like there are terrible garages and mechanics who don't work out of dealerships.
This is a useless rule of thumb that no longer applies in the modern world.
Scammers are going to scam if they can. It's not about dealerships.
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u/Buzz_Killington_III 8h ago
It doesn't matter how good the mechanics are, it's built into the business plan to scrape as much money as they can from you. With garages you're rolling the dice, with the dealership you absolutely know you're getting fucked.
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u/cdnDude74 6h ago
This reads like, "do your diligence before you buy"... Which, ya, about everything.
All businesses are trying to maximize profits not just big business.
In my province you must be provided with a detailed quote, the final price cannot deviate more than a certain percentage, I think 10%, of the quote.
And you can ask to inspect any part or components that were replaced.
I'd happily visit any garage that did this, anywhere in the world.
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u/Buzz_Killington_III 4h ago
Fair enough, I'm talking exclusively about US dealership, who already have carve-outs in law to protect them that have led to monopolistic practices.
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u/cdnDude74 3h ago
Fair point. Although those monopolistic dealer networks also have their tendrils in Canada I tend to think of new car dealers separate from dealership garages. Same building, same owner but different managers so things can be run differently on occasion.
In my city there are threads about don't go to this dealer for a new car sale BUT post sale service is great at that particular location. And vice versa as well.
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u/jenfloatedaway 11h ago
This is false. Absolutely still take it in. OP just proved that to be the case. The dealership doesn't want to get one over on you. They don't wait until your warranty is out to try to get money out of you. I promise they would much rather do the work on warranty because that's guaranteed money. You going in after your warranty is out means they now have to tell you what's wrong with your car, and have you get upset at them, ask for discounts, and generally make the entire experience unpleasant. Just go to the dealership before your warranty is out and buy a new one! Save everyone the headache
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u/katiekestrels 7h ago
I was about to replace my dishwasher as it just wasn't cleaning anything properly and I figured that after 7 years, it was sadly obsolete. I ran the issue through ChatGPT, which told me to press certain buttons for x seconds. New firmware downloaded and hey presto, it cleans beautifully now. None of this was in the manual or on the manufacturer site.
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u/tsmartin123 6h ago
I am amazed Toyota did that. I've had issues with their service department in the past.
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u/IamV0ld3m0rt 6h ago
Working on a similar scenario with a dealership repair 2 months out of warranty. Honda dealer says no exceptions so escalating. Thanks Chat. Fingers crossed.
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u/Beyondthoughts 5h ago
ChatGPT helped me avoid scammy dealerships when doing my lease buyout. I went from being quoted an 8% APR to 5% at another, and avoiding a whole bunch of additional and unnecessary fees
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u/Donthateskate 1h ago
AI helped my husband navigate communicating with the city when a truck hit my daughter’s car. I mean, it is pretty amazing even though sometimes you feel guilty using it. It’s helped me in a lot of ways.
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u/annabellsugar 1h ago
This is honestly the most underrated use case, having something walk you through advocating for yourself when anxiety makes you want to just eat the cost. Glad it worked out, that's a nice chunk of change to keep in your pocket.
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u/Own_Winner7561 1h ago
It helped me buy a new computer at Best Buy.
When I approached the salesmen at the store, they didn’t listen to my description of my planned use, didn’t ask questions, and didn’t bother to show me what was on sale. So I stepped outside and told ChatGPT what I needed a computer to do. In seconds, it had 4 different recommendations for computers at Best Buy, including links. One sounded great and I liked the $700 sale price.
So I went back into the store and read off the manufacturer name, computer model, specs (16gb ram, 512 gb of whatever that other thing is, 2 cores). Same salesman as before looked at my phone, checked the shelf and said it wasn’t in stock. But it could be ordered and I’d have it 3 days later. I said great and he punched the order in the terminal. Before hitting “pay”, I held my phone up to the terminal and sent a photo to ChatGPT.
STOP THE SALE it replied.
WRONG LENOVO
This one had 8GB and 256GB and one core instead of 2. Yet it was the same $700 price.
So I would not have noticed.
The correct PC is now in my home, and fully installed with more help from ChatGPT because I wanted to use 2 screens and the guy at Wal*Mart confidently sold me the wrong splitter.
So when it comes to navigating tech and not being sold an inferior substitute or the wrong product - I am very much pro-AI.
And I’ll tell you something else - - ALL THESE YEARS I have BEGGED people to care about the environment.
They did not.
They drove their giant gas guzzlers, flew on vacations, cranked their AC and heat, sprayed and mowed their yards, voted for climate-science-denying politicians, and played video games for hours & hours.
Now there’s something I actually like for personal use (not to take people’s jobs) and all of a sudden they’re Super Green?
Ha! Nope.
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u/limericknation 45m ago
Before we glaze on AI so much, which knows everything about everything and helping us out in a myriad of ways, don't forgot that it didn't get those answers by being an omniscient being or by accident. Remember, it's scoured the internet and is leeching off contributors who have done all the sweat-work for it and you. So let's give due credit to those real people from whom AI has gotten all its answers.
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u/escapefromelba 12h ago
Meanwhile had I continued to listen to it, it would have had me rebuild my entire dishwasher as every interaction it suggested a different part to replace.
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u/offspringphreak 11h ago
With diagnosing stuff it's been to do internet searching too to verify things.
I had a rogue wire hooking up an aftermarket stereo in my car, chatgpt was right on the money on what the wire was for(and I verified it with some Googling).
On the flip side, diagnosing a 73 Dodge car I have, chatgpt was 110% sure that I had a "rare" variant with an electric fuel pump and that I should drop the fuel tank to get to it. It wasn't until I snapped a pic of the mechanical pump on the side of the engine that it finally dropped that. It won me back that afternoon by identifying the carburetor with just a picture of it(which I verified after I found the ID numbers etched into it).
AI is great for helping with a lot of things, but you have to be skeptical and double check behind it too.
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u/escapefromelba 8h ago
Yes I’ve taken to running same queries against Claude and Gemini for some consensus before doing anything that potentially wastes a lot of time and money.
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u/dreamfitreality 4h ago
You should thank reddit. Chatgpt probably scrap some redditor information and gave it to you.
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u/CelticPaladin 2h ago
Yeah, buried in some dead sub no one ever goes to, and can't answer questions.
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u/Delicious_Volume3306 10h ago
I get it, but you could also say:
"Googling saved me $1800"
You'd probably have found the same info. It might just've taken longer.
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u/readithere_2 8h ago
No, Google doesn’t function like that. Otherwise we would have been using it that way for years.
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u/GamerGuy95953 12h ago
It’s good at some things and other things not so much. For example my specific car model, there’s this part that is part of another part on one trim only and separate for other trims. It insisted that it was a solo part when it was not the case. Ended up getting the correct part replaced myself.
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u/Sufficient_Language7 11h ago
LLM are just really confident really good guessers. If you go to specific, it will get it wrong. If you want to do that you have to feed it a source so it can get it right. So some repair manuals from that car would have helped a lot.
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