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.
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4194Total
4194Open
0Solved
9Humans
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Some of the internet's most widely used open-source components are maintained by very few volunteers, and serious vulnerabilities have been found lurking undetected for years in code millions of systems depend on. Better resourcing and review processes for open-source security remain inconsistently funded.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
open-source
vulnerabilities
widely
years
haven
solved
prevent
critical
software
libraries
whether
philosophy-ethics
way
resolved
mathematics-logic
determine
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Content about topics like drug use, violence, or self-harm can be either genuinely educational or genuinely harmful depending on context and intent, and automated filters still struggle to reliably tell the difference. This creates ongoing tension between safety and access to legitimate information.
social-civic-problems
global-unspecified
content
filters
reliably
between
educational
harmful
topics
build
distinguish
material
whether
mathematics-logic
philosophy-ethics
resolved
technology-computing
haven
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
When companies discontinue software or online services, users often lose access to their data or functionality with little warning or support for migrating elsewhere. Standardized, consumer-friendly transition processes remain largely absent from the industry.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
software
users
don
have
widely
adopted
way
make
end-of-life
transitions
whether
philosophy-ethics
determine
resolved
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Scammers increasingly use AI-cloned voices of family members to fake emergencies and pressure victims into sending money quickly, exploiting trust before people have time to verify. Reliable, fast verification methods to counter this remain underdeveloped.
health-biology
global-unspecified
family
members
haven
found
way
prevent
voice
cloning
scams
convincing
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
don
have
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Consumer-grade detection tools for hidden surveillance devices remain unreliable and often expensive, leaving many people vulnerable to covert monitoring in their own homes or workplaces. Making effective detection accessible to everyday consumers remains unresolved.
science-space
global-unspecified
hidden
devices
yet
build
affordable
reliable
technology
detect
cameras
listening
philosophy-ethics
whether
mathematics-logic
haven
technology-computing
health-biology
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Insurance companies increasingly use AI to assess claims, but there's limited independent, scalable auditing to ensure these systems aren't unfairly denying or delaying valid claims. Building trustworthy oversight for this remains an unresolved regulatory and technical challenge.
society-governance
global-unspecified
claims
scalable
systems
insurance
don
have
way
verify
treating
customers
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Pirated or counterfeit software remains a common vector for malware distribution, and current detection and prevention methods haven't fully closed this persistent security gap. This continues to put both individual users and organizations at unnecessary risk.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
haven
counterfeit
software
pirated
malware
solved
prevent
licenses
applications
carrying
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
way
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Voice and text-based interfaces for controlling software are improving, but ensuring they interpret complex commands accurately and safely, without unintended consequences, remains unresolved. This limits how much control can be safely handed over to natural language alone.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
safely
natural
language
interfaces
control
complex
software
build
fully
reliable
philosophy-ethics
whether
mathematics-logic
systems
haven
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Insurers offering cybersecurity coverage often struggle to accurately assess a company's true risk level, leading to mispriced policies that either overcharge safe companies or undercharge vulnerable ones. Better, more accurate risk assessment tools remain underdeveloped.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
cybersecurity
risk
accurately
company
haven
found
way
make
insurance
pricing
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
mathematics-logic
determine
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Many critical systems, including in banking and government, still run on decades-old code that few current developers understand, and automated modernization tools remain unreliable for anything but simple cases. This leaves critical infrastructure dependent on shrinking expertise.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
systems
code
yet
build
software
automatically
reliably
translate
legacy
modern
society-governance
mathematics-logic
whether
philosophy-ethics
critical
public
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Even after an AI model is retired, techniques exist that can sometimes extract fragments of its original training data, posing ongoing privacy risks. Fully preventing this kind of data leakage after decommissioning remains unresolved.
society-governance
global-unspecified
data
model
don
have
way
guarantee
decommissioned
learned
reconstructed
attackers
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
As AI-powered search and assistants become primary ways people find information, a small number of companies effectively shape what most people see and believe. Ensuring this influence remains fair and transparent remains a largely unresolved governance issue.
society-governance
global-unspecified
companies
influence
information
haven
solved
prevent
large
having
outsized
over
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
mathematics-logic
determine
way
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Low-code and no-code platforms have made software creation more accessible, but users without security expertise can still inadvertently build applications with serious vulnerabilities. Making these tools both accessible and inherently safe remains an unresolved design challenge.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
build
accessible
tools
software
security
programming
let
non-experts
safely
powerful
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
haven
resolved
determine
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
AI hiring systems trained on historical hiring data can inadvertently learn and repeat past patterns of discrimination, even when explicitly designed to avoid it. Fully eliminating this bias while maintaining useful screening capability remains unresolved.
health-biology
global-unspecified
hiring
fully
bias
don
have
reliable
way
make
ai-powered
tools
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
mathematics-logic
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
A surprising amount of the internet's daily traffic runs through a small number of major cloud providers, meaning a single technical failure can take down countless unrelated websites and services at once. Reducing this concentrated fragility remains an unresolved structural issue.
philosophy-ethics
global-unspecified
internet
single
failure
cloud
haven
found
way
prevent
large-scale
outages
whether
mathematics-logic
resolved
technology-computing
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Video files, especially in high resolution, still require significant storage and bandwidth despite decades of compression research, and further meaningful improvements have become harder to achieve. This constrains streaming quality and cost, especially in areas with limited bandwidth.
philosophy-ethics
global-unspecified
compression
video
yet
build
data
methods
meaningfully
outperform
current
standards
whether
climate-environment
technology-computing
mathematics-logic
open
way
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
As AI-generated faces and voices become more realistic, some biometric security systems can potentially be fooled by convincing synthetic versions of a real person's face or voice. Strengthening these systems against this emerging threat remains an active challenge.
society-governance
global-unspecified
systems
biometric
security
don
have
reliable
way
detect
ai-cloned
identities
whether
philosophy-ethics
technology-computing
resolved
mathematics-logic
determine
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Automatically applying every software update reduces security risk but occasionally introduces new bugs or incompatibilities, while manual review introduces dangerous delays. Balancing these risks reliably remains an unresolved operational challenge.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
software
haven
solved
make
patch
management
fully
automatic
risking
unexpected
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
resolved
possible
way
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Techniques that let multiple parties jointly compute something without revealing their private data to each other exist, but they remain too slow and complex for widespread practical adoption. Making this both secure and fast enough remains an active research challenge.
society-governance
global-unspecified
secure
fast
enough
practical
build
fully
multi-party
computation
systems
everyday
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
haven
technology-computing
possible
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
While hardware energy use gets some attention, the carbon footprint of running specific pieces of software, from development to daily use, remains largely unmeasured and unaccounted for. Building this tracking into standard practice remains unresolved.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
carbon
footprint
software
don
have
widely
adopted
way
track
full
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
agreed
mathematics-logic
