Research & Planning AI hacks

Trading card game creator has ChatGPT research news every Sunday, draft short magazine articles and plan posts in Google Sheets

A hobby creator running Instagram and TikTok accounts about Magic: The Gathering and other card games has ChatGPT search for news every Sunday, check sources and prepare short articles for a monthly digital magazine, with content planned weeks ahead in Google Sheets.

Spotted on u/_necrobite_

Therapist and author has Grok Bot file years of research into a library and make cited client handouts from it

A therapist fed Grok Bot the research and therapy tools she had collected over the years, had a librarian bot tag and file them, and now creates printable, cited resources for clients from that library. She also has it post her new YouTube videos to her website as drafts.

Spotted on Lori Miller (@LoriRMiller)

Parent asks Grok to gather past math tournament problems so their kids can practice

With their kids preparing for a city and state math tournament, a parent asked Grok to search the web for problems from previous years, other schools and olympiads, and got a list of more than 2,000 tasks across all grades.

Spotted on @gladimdim

Family historian exports ancestors by county from Ancestry and has ChatGPT merge the lists to plan a research trip

Before a research trip to two North Carolina counties, a genealogy creator filtered their Ancestry tree by place, pasted each county's list into ChatGPT to merge, and asked it where the local libraries, museum and deeds office are.

Spotted on Genealogy TV 2

NotebookLM user asks what their sources don't answer, and where they disagree, before writing anything

Because NotebookLM is limited by its sources and tends to answer the nearest thing it can find, a user asks it to list the important questions the sources leave open and where they conflict, giving a research to-do list before the gap shows up in a report or exam.

Spotted on u/Ok_Negotiation_2587

Founder has Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM) check a raw business plan against an MBA book and a video, then build a mind map and pitch deck

A founder uploaded a rough business plan with an MBA book and an entrepreneurship video to Gemini Notebook, formerly NotebookLM, which checked the plan against their frameworks and produced a refined strategy, a mind map and a pitch deck.

Under 10 minutes · their claim

Spotted on @priteshkgupta

Patient records doctor visits and keeps a Gemini Notebook of their history, test results and research

A patient has AI transcribe recorded doctor conversations and keeps a Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) filled with their history, test results and articles, then asks it for a summary and recommendations at each stage of treatment.

Spotted on clemencello (Hacker News)

Product maker has Claude map every specialty store for outreach

A bird-feeding product seller used Claude to build a list of Wild Birds Unlimited stores, their owners and which camera feeders each one stocks.

Spotted on u/Choclit99

Teacher drafts a Bloom's taxonomy worksheet in ChatGPT, then checks it against a trusted source in NotebookLM

To avoid copy-paste recall worksheets, a teacher prompted ChatGPT with Bloom's verbs for each skill level on a Grade 9 Industrial Revolution unit, assembled the tasks in Word, then added a web source to NotebookLM and asked whether the worksheet matched it.

Spotted on Teachers Tech

Professional builds a button that launches a long Perplexity investor search

For frequent investor research at work, a Perplexity Pro user vibe-coded a button that starts a new search with a long, multi-question prompt.

Spotted on u/nothingeverhappen

Food and fashion blogger uses Claude Projects for keyword research, pin copy and bulk pin uploads

A blogger who runs a recipe blog, a fashion blog and a YouTube channel keeps a Claude Project for each, and uses them for Google and Pinterest keyword research, pin titles and descriptions, analytics reviews and a CSV that bulk-imports pins.

Spotted on Meghan's Media

Founder analyzes thousands of competitor reviews to find gaps to target

A business owner pairs structured customer interviews with AI analysis of thousands of competitor product reviews, then builds tables of competitors' weak spots.

Spotted on u/alexnapierholland

Person asks ChatGPT when a package will arrive and it builds an estimate from tracking history and flight data

Wondering when an international package would actually show up, a person asked ChatGPT, which pulled past tracking data for similar shipments plus live flight schedules and gave a grounded arrival estimate with a range.

Spotted on @bpizzacalla

Parent cooking for seven plans almost every dinner from a ChatGPT project that knows their pantry

A parent tells ChatGPT what's thawed, what's in the fridge and when dinner must be ready, and gets a full cooking plan. A project holding their pantry list and a cooking guide it researched now runs nearly every family dinner.

Monthly food costs more than halved · their claim

Spotted on u/mcburgs

Reader uses NotebookLM audio overviews to preview books and decide whether they are worth reading, and spots a parsing failure

A reader puts books into NotebookLM's podcast feature to get primed and decide if a book is worth reading; one PDF failed to parse beyond the cover pages, yet the AI hosts filled 26 minutes anyway, a useful warning sign to watch for.

Spotted on @connerdelights

Worker prepares for an unemployment appeal with ChatGPT and wins

After benefits were denied, a worker spent weeks with ChatGPT going over the hearing packet and practicing questions, and it kept steering them to the legal issue instead of every small detail. The judge reversed the denial.

Spotted on u/CleanandTall

Researcher uses NotebookLM to turn a recent paper on human cooperation into an explainer video for the public

To share their science with a general audience, a researcher uploaded one of their recent papers on human cooperation to NotebookLM and had it create an explainer video.

Spotted on @ErdemPulcu

Facing a packed teller line, a bank customer asks Gemini for a workaround and deposits cash at a partner store cashier instead

With the teller line at their bank branch packed, a customer asked Gemini for a workaround and learned they could generate a partner deposit barcode in the bank's app and pay the cash in at a partner supermarket cashier, with funds arriving instantly and no fees.

Spotted on @heisredminded

Sales reps use AI to prep calls and rehearse objections

Reps use Claude to research a prospect before a call, run a weekly news digest, and role-play a tough buyer.

Spotted on u/Tennouheika

SEO writer has Claude build a content-brief app

An SEO writer used Claude to build a small local app that turns an article topic into a full content brief before any writing starts.

Spotted on u/Appropriate_Two_3965

Middle school teacher asks ChatGPT to rank chosen conference sessions by impact on students

Before a summer education conference, a middle school teacher used ChatGPT to evaluate the sessions they had picked for the biggest impact on their students, and it also made a neat graphic of the final choices.

Spotted on @willmaynard1

RV rental owner uses Claude for a remodel, ads and tool choices

The owner of a 20-RV rental fleet in Los Angeles uses Claude to plan a low-cost interior remodel and to help with the website, ads and tool decisions.

Spotted on u/PVPirates

Founder has Claude research anyone they're about to cold email or meet, then add them to a personal CRM

A founder built a research routine in Claude that takes one social link for someone they're about to cold email or meet and returns a career overview, three things they probably didn't know, and possible overlaps, then adds the person to their personal people CRM.

Spotted on @Jared_Seidel_

Garden center owner uses Claude Research to find right-sized fleet tracking

A small business owner used Claude's research feature to find vehicle tracking services priced for a three-truck crew.

Spotted on @RoryTyer