Real AI agent use cases, with sources and setup prompts

Have Claude design better quantum circuits against an automatic scorer

Anthropic gave Claude plain-language specs for eight quantum circuits from chemistry, optimization, physics and number theory plus an evaluator that checks and scores each design. Working largely on its own, Claude beat the best published circuits, in some cases by an order of magnitude or more.

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Source

pretext on Hacker News · 2026-10-16 · Project link

Written in our own words. Credit to the original author. Link checked 2026-10-17.

What they did

Anthropic gave Claude plain-language specs for eight quantum circuits from chemistry, optimization, physics and number theory plus an evaluator that checks and scores each design. Working largely on its own, Claude beat the best published circuits, in some cases by an order of magnitude or more.

Result (as claimed)

Published by Anthropic Oct 16 2026; 168 points on Hacker News.

Tools they used

Claude

Cost: Pricing depends on the tools you pick; check each official pricing page.

Set it up

  1. Gather your sources

    Collect the papers, notes, links or files you want to work from in one place.

  2. Load them into the tool

    Open Claude and add your sources. Keep the original files so you can check claims later.

  3. Ask focused questions

    Ask for summaries, comparisons or connections with citations to the source passages.

  4. Verify and save

    Spot check claims against the sources, then save the output as notes you can reuse.

Copy the full setup prompt

Paste into your agent and it will walk you through the setup, asking before anything that sends, posts or spends.

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Goal: Have Claude design better quantum circuits against an automatic scorer
What the original author did: Anthropic gave Claude plain-language specs for eight quantum circuits from chemistry, optimization, physics and number theory plus an evaluator that checks and scores each design. Working largely on its own, Claude beat the best published circuits, in some cases by an order of magnitude or more.
Reported result (as claimed by the author): Published by Anthropic Oct 16 2026; 168 points on Hacker News.
Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50121939
Tools they used: Claude
Category: Research & learning

Please:
1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like).
2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure.
3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data.
4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.

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