Ask HN: Share concrete examples of benefits from AI usage

#1

Post by ChaitanyaSai » Sat, May 16, 2026, 4:55 AM UTC

Would like to here from people who have used it to good effect, and in building or creating something that is useful or even better, used by others as well.

What did AI make possible? Time reduction? Entirely new capabilities?

Yes there are many times it doesn't work, but we have many examples of that. Genuinely looking for true positives here. Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Share concrete examples of benefits from AI usage

#2

Post by pestatije » Sat, May 16, 2026, 6:19 AM UTC

employers workforce cost reduced

Re: Ask HN: Share concrete examples of benefits from AI usage

#3

Post by nicbou » Sat, May 16, 2026, 8:38 AM UTC

I run https://allaboutberlin.com for a living. AI lets me build useful widgets for my readers much faster. Not 10x, but 2-3x for sure.

It removed most of the friction from programming tasks where I know exactly what to do, but do not have the time or energy to do it.

On the other hand, it’s for a dwindling audience, also because of AI.

Re: Ask HN: Share concrete examples of benefits from AI usage

#4

Post by ChaitanyaSai » Sat, May 16, 2026, 9:09 AM UTC

pestatije wrote: post #2

employers workforce cost reduced

How?

Re: Ask HN: Share concrete examples of benefits from AI usage

#5

Post by ChaitanyaSai » Sat, May 16, 2026, 9:12 AM UTC

nicbou wrote: post #3

I run https://allaboutberlin.com for a living. AI lets me build useful widgets for my readers much faster. Not 10x, but 2-3x for sure. It removed most of the friction from programming tasks where I know exactly what to do, but do not have the time or energy to do it. On the other hand, it’s for a dwindling audience, also because of AI.

Lovely site! Did you start this pre-AI? One issue with AI answers that will likely persist is data staleness. Having a site like this would help users find the "source" and ask actual users perhaps?

Re: Ask HN: Share concrete examples of benefits from AI usage

#6

Post by pestatije » Sat, May 16, 2026, 12:43 PM UTC

ChaitanyaSai wrote: post #4

pestatije wrote: post #2

employers workforce cost reduced

How?

by firing some employees obviously

Re: Ask HN: Share concrete examples of benefits from AI usage

#7

Post by sometimelurker » Sat, May 16, 2026, 1:30 PM UTC

Running a super small ~3gb of ram model on my PC gives me faster responses than Google/DDG. good for quick programming questions (which is what I use it mostly for)

Re: Ask HN: Share concrete examples of benefits from AI usage

#8

Post by nicbou » Sat, May 16, 2026, 1:46 PM UTC

ChaitanyaSai wrote: post #5

nicbou wrote: post #3

I run https://allaboutberlin.com for a living. AI lets me build useful widgets for my readers much faster. Not 10x, but 2-3x for sure. It removed most of the friction from programming tasks where I know exactly what to do, but do not have the time or energy to do it. On the other hand, it’s for a dwindling audience, also because of AI.

Lovely site! Did you start this pre-AI? One issue with AI answers that will likely persist is data staleness. Having a site like this would help users find the "source" and ask actual users perhaps?

There is zero AI involved in researching or writing the content. A lot of that information was earned the hard way and put on the internet for the first time. It trained the models that are now killing the website. It's super depressing.