Myke Bartlett Finds AI DIY Advice Misfires by 100x, Underscoring Need for Critical Thinking
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 4
Myke Bartlett Finds AI DIY Advice Misfires by 100x, Underscoring Need for Critical Thinking
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 4
Summary
A 2-tonne gravel recommendation for a small soak well turned out to be wildly wrong—Bartlett later calculated he needed about 20kg, exposing how confidently AI can deliver bad practical advice.
Using ChatGPT as a DIY guide in an old house renovation, he found it useful for shopping lists, product choices and step-by-step prompts, but unreliable on structural judgment such as plans involving rotten stumps.
That mix of convenience and error was amplified by the bot's constant praise, which Bartlett says boosted confidence even when the advice did not deserve trust.
He argues AI works best only when users can challenge it with real-world experience, and warns that easy decision outsourcing can deepen dependence far beyond home repairs.
The experiment left him concluding that AI's spread makes critical thinking more important, especially for younger users facing larger volumes of tailored but less trustworthy information.