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 is responding to an IRS CP2000 notice still a six-week DIY nightmare in 2026?

Solo filers with a CP2000 for a missing Robinhood 1099-B or Coinbase 1099-MISC must rebuild cost basis, draft a Form 5564 response, and mail it certified, because TurboTax hands them a $400 audit upsell.

Category: FinTech · Trend: Agents · Opportunity score: 8.8 / 10

What is the “Why is responding to an IRS CP2000 notice still a six-week DIY nightmare in 2026?” problem in 2026?

Who has this problem?

W-2 employee with side crypto or stock trades who self-filed.

Evidence this problem is real

“Got a CP2000 saying I owe $11k from Robinhood trades I already reported. The IRS took the gross proceeds and ignored cost basis. TurboTax says use their audit service for $400 and basically tells you to write a letter yourself.”

Sourced from r/tax, r/IRS recurring CP2000 threads and TurboTax community boards.

Existing players in this space

TaxAudit (TurboTax Audit Defense) — Expensive, slow, mostly templates.
Keeper Tax — Focuses on deductions, not notice response.
April — Filing only, no post-filing notice workflow.

What existing players are missing

An agent that ingests the CP2000 PDF, pulls broker 1099s and wallet history, recomputes the IRS proposed math, and drafts the exact disagreement letter with attached schedules in IRS-acceptable format.

How Real Problem AI scores this opportunity

Aggregate score: 8.8 / 10. Four-axis rubric:

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

How to build a solution: stack hints

Vision OCR of the CP2000 notice
Long-context LLM cross-check of IRS changes vs filed return
Plaid plus crypto wallet sync for cost basis rebuild
Pre-filled Form 5564 and response letter generation