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 does my tiny SaaS need a lawyer to answer each EU AI Act question?

The EU AI Act phased into force through 2025-2026 with general-purpose AI obligations from August 2026. Tiny SaaS sellers ship AI features and have no idea which obligations apply.

Category: LegalTech & Compliance · Trend: Compliance · Opportunity score: 8.0 / 10

What is the “Why does my tiny SaaS need a lawyer to answer each EU AI Act question?” problem in 2026?

The EU AI Act phased into force through 2025-2026 with general-purpose AI obligations from August 2026. Tiny SaaS sellers ship AI features and have no idea which obligations apply.

Who has this problem?

Solo and small-team SaaS founders selling AI features into the EU.

Evidence this problem is real

“I have 22 EU customers. The lawyer quote for AI Act compliance was 9,000 EUR. I just disabled the AI features for EU users.”

Sourced from EU AI Act Implementation Timeline, IAPP coverage May 2026, GDPR.eu primer 2026.

Existing players in this space

OneTrust — Enterprise-priced
Termly templates — Generic, not AI Act-aware
Lawyer — $5k+ per question

What existing players are missing

An EU AI Act assistant for SMBs: classifies the AI feature by risk tier, generates the documentation pack the Act requires for each tier, monitors obligations as they phase in, and produces a defensible audit trail. Priced under $99/month.

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: 8 / 10
Competition gap: 8 / 10

How to build a solution: stack hints

Risk-tier classifier
Document template library
Obligation calendar with phased-in dates
Audit trail with signed snapshots