What is Real Problem AI?

Real Problem AI is a curated directory of 100 real problems worth building an AI startup around. Each problem is scored honestly on severity, AI feasibility, market signal, and competition gap. We're for builders looking for what to build, not for ethics debates about AI.

What is the difference between Real Problem AI and AI ethics or AI risks indexes?

Real Problem AI catalogues problems AI can solve — productive, commercial opportunities for builders. AI ethics indexes catalogue problems with AI itself (bias, environmental cost, copyright, consciousness). Different intent, different audience: founders and indie hackers vs researchers and policy folks.

What should I build with AI in 2026?

Look for problems with high severity (it costs people hours, sleep, or revenue every week), high AI feasibility (LLMs, vision or voice are great at this today), strong market signal (Reddit threads + willingness to pay), and a clear competition gap (incumbents miss the same obvious thing). Real Problem AI scores 100 such problems for you on those four axes.

Where do Real Problem AI's startup ideas come from?

From three sources, scanned each cycle: 1) Reddit threads where people describe a real friction in their own words, 2) podcasts and talks of founders young builders trust (Nikhil Kamath, Aman Gupta, Ankur Warikoo, Raj Shamani, Andrej Karpathy, Greg Isenberg), and 3) a continuous 1,000+ source scan covering forums, app store reviews, regulator filings, and field interviews.

Is Real Problem AI free?

Yes. Browsing every problem, opening every score breakdown, raising your hand on a co-founder match, and the founder vault are all free. There is no paywall.

How is each problem scored?

Four axes, each 1-10, weighted: Problem Severity (30%), AI Feasibility (25%), Market Signal (25%), Competition Gap (20%). Weighted average is the Opportunity Score on each card. Only problems clearing 7.0+ make the live list.

Why can't I plan a road trip in my EV without becoming a charging-network detective?

EV road trip planning means juggling A Better Routeplanner, PlugShare comments ("station broken since March"), and 4 different charging apps mid-drive.

Category: Automotive & Mobility · Trend: Agents · Opportunity score: 8.0 / 10

What is the “Why can't I plan a road trip in my EV without becoming a charging-network detective?” problem in 2026?

EV road trip planning means juggling A Better Routeplanner, PlugShare comments ("station broken since March"), and 4 different charging apps mid-drive.

Who has this problem?

EV owners on any trip > 200 miles, especially non-Tesla drivers.

Evidence this problem is real

“PlugShare said 4 working stalls. Got there: 2 ICE'd, 1 broken, 1 was 50kW not 150. Lost 90 minutes hunting an alternative on a 6% battery.”

Sourced from r/electricvehicles, r/TeslaModel3, ChargePoint and EVgo App Store reviews.

Existing players in this space

A Better Routeplanner (ABRP)
PlugShare
Chargeway
in-car nav (most still bad outside Tesla)

What existing players are missing

Live agent that pulls real-time station status (not crowd-sourced from last week), models your specific car's charge curve in current temperature, pre-warms battery, and reroutes when it sees a stall fail in the last 30 minutes.

How Real Problem AI scores this opportunity

Aggregate score: 8.0 / 10. Four-axis rubric:

Problem severity: 8 / 10
AI feasibility today: 8 / 10
Market signal: 9 / 10
Competition gap: 7 / 10

How to build a solution: stack hints

OCPP / network APIs (EA, EVgo, ChargePoint, Tesla)
Per-VIN charge-curve model + weather
LLM trip replanner
Apple/Android Auto delivery

Why this problem is archived

Trimmed to 100-cap (lowest opportunity_score)