> being able to translate a full application from AT&T Assembly into Intel Assembly compatible with NASM, [...] isn't something a "decent search engine a la Google circa 2005." would ever been able to achieve

No you would have searched for "difference between at&t assembly and intel assembly", and if not found, the manuals for both and compiling the difference. Then write an awk or perl script to get it done. And if you happens to be good at both assembly versions and awk. I believe that could have been done in less than an hour. Or you could use some vim macros.

> In the past I would have given such a task to a junior dev or intern, to keep them busy somehow, with a bit more tool maturity I have no reason to do it in the future.

The reason to give tasks to junior is to get them to learn more. Or the task needs to be done, but it's not critical. Unless it takes less time to do it than to delegate it to someone else, or you have no junior to guide, it's a good reason to hand out the task to a junior if it will help them grow.