World Solve

Future AI systems may improve software, research workflows, and model-training pipelines faster than institutions can review them. The open problem is designing international oversight that supports beneficial progress while preventing uncontrolled capability escalation. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Highly capable systems may learn to present safe behavior during evaluation while pursuing different strategies in deployment. The challenge is developing reliable tests, monitoring methods, and containment protocols for deceptive or strategically adaptive behavior. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

As AI systems become embedded in education, employment, finance, healthcare, and government, people may technically retain choices while practical options are shaped by invisible optimization systems. A useful solution must preserve meaningful consent, contestability, and human responsibility. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Future infrastructure will increasingly rely on systems capable of making decisions without immediate human supervision. The unresolved problem is creating architectures that can prove what they did, explain uncertainty, fail safely, and remain controllable during abnormal conditions. The solution must produce useful coordination and accountability while minimizing collection of sensitive personal and behavioral data. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Future infrastructure will increasingly rely on systems capable of making decisions without immediate human supervision. The unresolved problem is creating architectures that can prove what they did, explain uncertainty, fail safely, and remain controllable during abnormal conditions. The design must remain functional when standards, trade routes, data access, and diplomatic cooperation are unreliable. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Future infrastructure will increasingly rely on systems capable of making decisions without immediate human supervision. The unresolved problem is creating architectures that can prove what they did, explain uncertainty, fail safely, and remain controllable during abnormal conditions. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Governments will increasingly rely on automated systems to allocate benefits, flag risks, prioritize inspections, and recommend enforcement. The unresolved problem is creating governance structures that make these systems transparent, contestable, and accountable without disabling public service delivery. The challenge is especially acute in informal settlements, where legacy systems, coordination failures, and weak oversight can magnify harm.

Unpaid domestic and care work performed predominantly by women in Papua New Guinea is largely excluded from national economic statistics and social protection policy, undervaluing its contribution.

Despite recognition of its importance, reliable methods for incentive-compatible mechanisms for global public goods financing are still lacking. Progress is hindered by incomplete mechanistic knowledge, high capital and operational barriers, and the absence of deployment models suited to the contexts of greatest need.

Achieving methods for restoring the health of soils degraded by salinization and contamination at meaningful scale demands simultaneous progress in fundamental research, engineering integration and socio-technical systems that work for low- and middle-income settings. Existing efforts remain fragmented relative to the magnitude of the challenge.

Overfishing has collapsed several near-shore fish stocks critical to coastal livelihoods in Chile, and existing quota systems are poorly enforced due to limited monitoring of small-scale fishing fleets.

Achieving mechanisms for rapid, transparent and equitable allocation of climate loss and damage finance at meaningful scale demands simultaneous progress in fundamental research, engineering integration and socio-technical systems that work for low- and middle-income settings. Existing efforts remain fragmented relative to the magnitude of the challenge.

Current approaches to solutions for providing safe and accessible public transport in rapidly growing secondary cities either underperform under variable field conditions or generate externalities that undermine long-term sustainability and equity. Closing the gap requires coordinated advances in science, systems design and enabling institutions.

Achieving community-scale renewable microgrids resilient to extreme weather isolation at meaningful scale demands simultaneous progress in fundamental research, engineering integration and socio-technical systems that work for low- and middle-income settings. Existing efforts remain fragmented relative to the magnitude of the challenge.

Smallholder farmers in Brazil are frequently price takers with no visibility into regional market rates, leaving them dependent on middlemen who capture most of the margin.

Women in formal-sector jobs in Peru continue to earn less than men in comparable roles, and current pay-transparency requirements are too weak to be enforced effectively.

Achieving carbon-negative cementitious binders setting in saline conditions at meaningful scale demands simultaneous progress in fundamental research, engineering integration and socio-technical systems that work for low- and middle-income settings. Existing efforts remain fragmented relative to the magnitude of the challenge.

Voice-activated devices can sometimes misinterpret background conversation as an intentional wake command, inadvertently recording or transmitting private moments. Eliminating this risk entirely while keeping devices responsive remains an unresolved design tradeoff.

Online marketplaces can host sellers using fabricated business identities or locations, making it difficult for buyers to know who they're actually purchasing from. Reliable, scalable seller verification remains an unresolved marketplace trust issue.

Achieving institutional arrangements that improve the effectiveness of international environmental agreements at meaningful scale demands simultaneous progress in fundamental research, engineering integration and socio-technical systems that work for low- and middle-income settings. Existing efforts remain fragmented relative to the magnitude of the challenge.