Maybe I'm getting old, but AI has probably been more useful to me fixing stuff around the house than it has been writing emails or any of the things people keep talking about. The other day I had a door hinge pulling out of the frame. I've always used the old toothpick trick because that's what my dad showed me years ago. AI suggested using gel super glue as well. Never crossed my mind. Took five minutes and it's probably the best that hinge has ever been. Same thing with cars. Same thing with plumbing. Half the time I don't actually need AI to tell me what to do, I just need someone or something to point me in roughly the right direction so I stop overthinking it. Now before anyone says I'm replacing YouTube with ChatGPT, no. AI gets plenty wrong. It once wanted me to spend half an afternoon repairing a cheap kitchen appliance that costs less than a decent takeaway to replace. It has absolutely no concept of when something isn't worth fixing.
That's probably the bit people miss. AI isn't replacing experience. It's replacing that feeling of staring at something broken and thinking, "I've got absolutely no idea where to even start." Twenty years ago I'd have been digging through random forums hoping someone had the same problem. Today I ask AI, sanity-check the answer, and get on with it. Curious if anyone else has found this. Has AI actually changed how you approach DIY or fixing things, or am I just becoming the bloke who asks a chatbot what I used to ask my neighbour over the fence?
[link] [comments]