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 is differentiating for IEP students basically a second full-time job?

Teachers must adapt every assignment for IEP/504 students; doing it well per-student is impossible.

Category: EdTech · Trend: Personalization · Opportunity score: 8.5 / 10

What is the “Why is differentiating for IEP students basically a second full-time job?” problem in 2026?

Teachers must adapt every assignment for IEP/504 students; doing it well per-student is impossible.

Who has this problem?

Gen-ed teachers with 4-10 IEP students per class; SPED teachers.

Evidence this problem is real

“I have 6 IEPs in one class. I differentiate one assignment a week, max.”

Sourced from r/teachers, r/specialed.

Existing players in this space

Goalbook
Frontline IEP
Diffit

What existing players are missing

None ingest the IEP PDF plus the lesson and output per-student adapted versions with the specific accommodations listed in plain language.

How Real Problem AI scores this opportunity

Aggregate score: 8.5 / 10. Four-axis rubric:

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

How to build a solution: stack hints

PII-aware IEP PDF parsing
LLM differentiation engine with accommodations library
Google Classroom integration
Audit log for FERPA/legal compliance