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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   1946 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 2, 2026

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So, I'm a bit late to the thread here, but I've been playing around with Gemini off-and-on the past few weeks.

Now, I keep encountering "AI boosters" extolling the universal utility of LLMs, that there's nobody who can't benefit from using an LLM as a tool in some portion of their job or daily life. Well, I've been looking for those uses, and I'm not seeing it.

So, my question: what is my personal use-case for an LLM? I'm a NEET, I don't code, I don't do any of the things I see people regularly using LLMs for.

I mostly use LLMs (including Gemini!) for math and software. I think by far the biggest third category of use cases for me is "better search engine":

  • Finding any existing name(s) for a concept I describe.
  • Finding old quotes, jokes, short stories, TV episodes, or historical events, when I only remember a description but not searchable exact words.
  • Finding TTRPG rules and DMing suggestions for tricky situations.
  • Locating data for particular statistics
  • Getting quick but detailed summaries when I'm curious about music/history/physics/sociology questions
  • Checking food safety rules, stain removal tips, musical instrument storage requirements, and injury care and pet care guidelines
  • Finding online course options for my kids
  • Planning trips
    • Locating that one canyon my parents took me to 40 years ago, based on a vague description, so I could take my kids
    • Finding fun "little" places to stop on the between-major-attraction legs of road trips that might otherwise be slogs
    • Finding hiking trails that match my kids' preferences, or in general searching destination options for amenities that you can't find hard-coded filters for
    • Learning "gotchas" about travel destinations ahead of time
    • Coming up with packing/prep checklists
  • Finding IRS rules based on a vague description of a situation
  • Quickly finding information on a list of professors based on a page with just photos

Including "much better reverse-image-search":

  • Identifying a foster kitten's skin problem by photo, and another cat's stomach troubles by description.
  • Identifying some "volunteer" garden plants by photo, and some animals by photo of their droppings.
  • Identifying garden pests by photo and figuring out how to safely get rid of them
  • Identifying strange things we saw on vacation, from photos

And some miscellaneous:

  • Figuring out how to better use my garden peppers
  • As a better thesaurus, refining synonym/antonym lists by ruling out or requiring particular connotations
  • Generative tasks
    • Making funny pictures and videos with my kids
    • Coming up with more interesting quiz problem ideas and game ideas for the math team I was coaching
    • Distilling long news pages into short summaries of the most important bits
  • For "handyman" problems
    • Figuring out how to work around problems with a hydroponics pump wearing out, then how to replace it with a more efficient setup when it finally broke
    • Figuring out to fix a broken tub/shower diverter valve
    • Figuring out how to fix a broken smartwatch
    • Troubleshooting a failing car ignition
    • Translating photos of foreign-language signs/instructions/machines, and figuring out how to use some of those machines

YMMV, of course, but there are skill issues for everyone here. One ironic skill issue of my own that only occurs to me belatedly: I probably spent 5 minutes skimming logs and typing up this list by hand, but if I instead give Gemini a 3-sentence prompt and do something else for 15 seconds, I get a list that's arguably a little better despite being more abbreviated.

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