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 tell which job postings are real before I spend an hour applying?

Job seekers apply to listings that have been open for months or get reposted after an instant rejection, with no way to see whether the company is actually hiring for the role right now.

Category: HR Tech & Recruiting · Trend: Agents · Opportunity score: 7.4 / 10

What is the “Why can't I tell which job postings are real before I spend an hour applying?” problem in 2026?

Job seekers apply to listings that have been open for months or get reposted after an instant rejection, with no way to see whether the company is actually hiring for the role right now.

Who has this problem?

Job seekers in tech, healthcare and hospitality applying to dozens of roles a week on company career sites and job boards.

Recorded source context

Dataset source note: Apply for a job, within an hour get an email that says I am not qualified (not true), and then a week later the same job gets posted again.

This note may summarize the referenced material rather than quote it verbatim. Source label: Hacker News discussion of a ghost jobs report finding 28% of career site postings open over 90 days, 23 September 2026, 302 points, 363 comments. (primary source).

Existing players in this space

Unlisted ghost jobs report: The source report measures how long postings stay open, at the market level rather than for the job you are looking at.
LinkedIn date posted filter: Shows the latest posting date, which resets every time a stale job is reposted.
Glassdoor: Reviews of the employer, not whether a given opening is live.

What existing players are missing

A per-posting check before you apply: how long this exact role has been listed, how often it has been reposted, whether the company is hiring or cutting staff, and whether people report hearing back, shown as a simple score in the browser.

How Real Problem AI scores this opportunity

Aggregate score: 7.4 / 10. Four-axis rubric:

Problem severity: 8 / 10
AI feasibility today: 7 / 10
Market signal: 9 / 10
Competition gap: 5 / 10

How to build a solution: stack hints

Job posting history tracking across career sites
Company hiring signals (headcount, news, layoffs)
Browser extension with a per-posting score
Applicant outcome reports