How I Solved a Two-Week Problem in Under Two Hours
—With AI Assistance
Background
I recently had coffee with a friend who was curious about what I was building through Solvers Collaborative. After hearing a few of the stories, he suggested that I share these learnings more broadly. "Use a broadcast method," he said. Thank you, Sandeep, for the inspiration. Here is the first post.
My Gita instructor faced a challenge: merging two extensive PDF documents by hand. He estimated it would take weeks of tedious effort. But with a bit of AI help, we dramatically simplified the problem.
The Problem:
My instructor had two large PDFs—Gita documents—that he was painstakingly merging manually. The repetitive task was overwhelming, inefficient, and frankly, a huge waste of his valuable time.
The Solution:
Leveraging ChatGPT Pro and Python, I quickly crafted a simple yet powerful PDF merging tool. The entire solution was built in less than two hours, reducing weeks of manual effort to just seconds of automated processing.
Interestingly, my instructor didn’t need or care about the code itself. What mattered most to him was the final output—the beautifully combined document that was ready to use.
You can view the solution here:
https://github.com/suresh-srinivas/gita-doc-combine/blob/main/gita-doc-combine.py
The Challenge:
While ChatGPT helped generate most of the code correctly, the part involving regular expressions needed refinement. The initial output didn’t quite get the logic right, and I had to manually fix that portion. This highlighted the importance of having a working knowledge of both Python and regular expressions to fine-tune AI-generated code.
Showcase:
Here's a quick YouTube Short featuring my instructor using the merged document:
Reflections:
This project began with an offer to help. I had reached out to the program coordinator, offering my skills in case anyone needed support. She brought up this task with the instructor, and after a quick conversation and content handoff, we had a plan. It reminded me how valuable it is to stay open and offer your skills—you never know what problems you might help solve.
AI isn’t just about complex algorithms or futuristic applications—it’s about solving real, everyday problems efficiently and elegantly. This small project reinforced the profound value of AI in making our lives simpler.