Repository of problems worth solving
World Solve is a public institutional repository for identifying real unresolved problems across science, society, health, governance, economics, and local systems. Each entry is intended to be citable, inspectable, and actionable.
Publicly citable
Every problem has a stable citation code for reference and discussion.
Filtered by relevance
Search by category, geography, status, and keywords.
Builder-oriented
Use the repository to find startup ideas, policy leads, and research agendas.
4194Total
4194Open
0Solved
9Humans
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Recovering valuable materials from electronic waste is technically possible but often not profitable enough on its own to attract the investment needed to handle the sheer volume being generated. Making this economically viable at scale remains unresolved.
economics-resources
global-unspecified
profitable
enough
scale
needed
haven
found
way
make
e-waste
recycling
mathematics-logic
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
climate-environment
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Consumer wearables can track things like heart rate and sleep, but their accuracy still falls short of clinical medical equipment for many important health metrics. Closing this accuracy gap remains an ongoing hardware and software challenge.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
health
medical
yet
build
wearable
devices
accurate
enough
fully
replace
whether
philosophy-ethics
haven
mathematics-logic
health-biology
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
AI-generated contracts, court filings, or legal notices can appear authentic enough to deceive people unfamiliar with proper legal formatting, creating new fraud risks. Detecting these fakes reliably remains an emerging unresolved challenge.
society-governance
global-unspecified
legal
don
have
effective
way
prevent
systems
generating
convincing
fake
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Many popular games include purchasable randomized rewards that closely resemble gambling mechanics, and current age protections and regulations remain inconsistent across different countries and platforms. Protecting younger players from this remains an unresolved policy and design challenge.
society-governance
global-unspecified
mechanics
younger
players
haven
solved
make
video
game
loot
box
philosophy-ethics
whether
mathematics-logic
resolved
climate-environment
way
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Cloud storage relies heavily on trusting individual companies to remain operational and reliable long-term, and if a provider fails or shuts down, users can lose access to their data. A truly provider-independent guarantee remains unbuilt.
society-governance
global-unspecified
cloud
storage
guarantee
data
remain
provider
build
systems
will
accessible
technology-computing
whether
philosophy-ethics
haven
mathematics-logic
climate-environment
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Without standardized measurement, it's difficult to compare the true environmental cost of different AI systems or hold companies accountable for improving efficiency. A consistent, transparent measurement standard remains undeveloped.
climate-environment
global-unspecified
different
don
have
universally
accepted
way
measure
energy-efficient
models
actually
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
agreed
mathematics-logic
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Self-driving systems have improved dramatically in ideal conditions, but heavy rain, snow, or unusual road situations still challenge their sensors and decision-making. Achieving true all-condition reliability remains an unresolved engineering problem.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
road
conditions
yet
build
fully
autonomous
vehicles
perform
safely
all
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
systems
haven
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Automated trading systems can execute manipulative strategies at speeds far beyond human traders, and regulators still struggle to detect this kind of abuse in real time. Closing this detection gap remains an urgent unresolved challenge for financial oversight.
economics-resources
global-unspecified
detect
systems
financial
don
have
reliable
way
being
manipulate
markets
philosophy-ethics
whether
resolved
society-governance
determine
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Many websites and applications are still built without full consideration for users who rely on screen readers, alternative input devices, or other accessibility tools. Making accessibility a foundational design principle rather than a later patch remains inconsistent.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
users
rather
haven
solved
make
software
accessible
default
disabilities
afterthought
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
way
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Machine translation has become remarkably fluent, but it still frequently misses emotional nuance, sarcasm, or culturally specific meaning that changes a sentence's true intent. Bridging this final layer of understanding remains unresolved.
philosophy-ethics
global-unspecified
machine
translation
emotional
build
fully
preserves
tone
subtlety
very
different
whether
mathematics-logic
haven
resolved
possible
know
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
App permission systems exist, but many apps still collect more data than users realize or intend to allow, often through complex, hard-to-navigate settings. True granular control over personal data remains inconsistently implemented across platforms.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
data
users
control
personal
apps
collect
don
have
widely
trusted
philosophy-ethics
whether
resolved
systems
determine
society-governance
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Terms of service and software licenses are often long, dense legal documents that almost no one actually reads before clicking agree. Making these terms genuinely understandable without losing their legal protection remains unresolved.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
terms
software
understandable
agree
haven
found
way
make
licensing
average
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
resolved
determine
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Small businesses are frequent targets for cyberattacks but often lack the budget or expertise to implement strong security measures. Closing this protection gap remains an unresolved challenge for a huge share of the global economy.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
cybersecurity
small
businesses
haven
solved
make
affordable
accessible
dedicated
staff
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
way
climate-environment
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Search engines have improved at understanding context, but still frequently misinterpret nuanced or ambiguous queries, returning results that miss what the user actually wanted. True intent understanding remains an unresolved challenge in information retrieval.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
search
user
intent
build
algorithms
fully
understand
actual
rather
just
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
resolved
haven
determine
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
It's often unclear exactly what data went into training a given AI model, making it difficult to audit for bias, copyright issues, or harmful content. Greater transparency into training data remains technically and legally unresolved.
society-governance
global-unspecified
training
data
don
have
reliable
affordable
way
verify
provenance
major
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
AI-powered chatbots can now conduct long, personalized, convincing conversations designed to manipulate victims into financial scams, operating at a scale no human scammer could match. Detecting and stopping this abuse remains an evolving challenge.
climate-environment
global-unspecified
chatbots
scale
convincing
financial
scams
haven
found
way
prevent
being
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
mathematics-logic
technology-computing
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
As software grows to meet more complex user needs, it also grows harder for any single team to fully understand every part of it, creating hidden risks. Balancing capability with true comprehensibility remains an unsolved software engineering challenge.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
software
enough
complex
needs
fully
understand
build
systems
modern
while
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
haven
resolved
possible
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
AI models trained on real-world data often absorb and sometimes amplify existing societal biases, and current bias correction methods only partially address the problem. A more complete solution remains an active and unresolved area of research.
society-governance
global-unspecified
biases
data
haven
solved
make
systems
consistently
avoid
reproducing
present
whether
philosophy-ethics
technology-computing
mathematics-logic
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Digital voting could make elections faster and more accessible, but security concerns and lack of public trust have kept most large-scale elections reliant on paper-based or hybrid systems. A truly trusted digital alternative remains unbuilt.
society-governance
global-unspecified
digital
elections
voting
trusted
yet
build
fully
reliable
tamper-proof
system
technology-computing
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
systems
haven
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Automated moderation systems still struggle to tell the difference between genuinely harmful content and similar-looking legitimate content, like educational or satirical material. This tradeoff between over- and under-moderation remains unresolved at scale.
social-civic-problems
global-unspecified
content
moderation
systems
harmful
legitimate
don
have
catch
also
flagging
philosophy-ethics
whether
resolved
mathematics-logic
way
determine