What is Real Problem AI?

Real Problem AI is a curated directory of 200+ 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 200+ 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 do I find out my tenant stopped paying six weeks late?

Small landlords (1-10 unit owners) discover late payments through chasing, not through dashboards. By the time they know, the arrears are material.

Category: PropTech / Real Estate · Trend: Agents · Opportunity score: 7.3 / 10

What is the “Why do I find out my tenant stopped paying six weeks late?” problem in 2026?

Small landlords (1-10 unit owners) discover late payments through chasing, not through dashboards. By the time they know, the arrears are material.

Who has this problem?

Independent landlords, mostly UK, Ireland and US small-portfolio owners.

Evidence this problem is real

“Found out two months in. They had stopped the standing order on the 28th of the month. By the time I checked, they were 60 days down.”

Sourced from r/Landlord threads 2026, NRLA UK quarterly reports, RTB Ireland 2025-2026 data.

Existing players in this space

RentRedi — US small-landlord, not UK/IE
Arthur Online — UK trade-focused
Spreadsheet — Most landlords still

What existing players are missing

A bank-feed-connected small-landlord agent that watches the rent account, alerts within 24 hours if rent does not land, drafts the first reminder in compliance with local notice rules, and tracks arrears legally.

How Real Problem AI scores this opportunity

Aggregate score: 7.3 / 10. Four-axis rubric:

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

How to build a solution: stack hints

Open Banking feed (Plaid + TrueLayer)
Rent-expected calendar
Locale-aware notice template library
Arrears tracking + reporting