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
Addressing wikipedia gaps in many languages is critical for achieving the 2030 Agenda. Current efforts fall short in scale, speed and equity, leaving the most vulnerable behind. Any viable solution must function in low-resource settings with limited specialists, transport, laboratory capacity and broadband. Proposals should specify quantifiable biological, social or environmental outcomes, openly discuss potential risks, and present a realistic pathway for long-term maintenance and local ownership beyond short research pilots.
wikipedia
gaps
many
languages
2030
mathematics-logic
Future progress on human development and planetary health depends on solving content not in local languages. Conventional approaches have proven insufficient. The required intervention must integrate community knowledge, data and appropriate technology while remaining affordable, privacy-preserving and operable with minimal external support. Strong solutions will articulate measurable impact metrics, risk mitigation strategies, and a plan for sustained operation by local actors after the pilot phase.
local
content
languages
strengthening
global
social-civic-problems
language in courts remaining complex remains one of the most urgent challenges of our time. Systems currently in place are inadequate for the scale and complexity of the problem. A successful approach must work where resources are scarcest and demonstrate clear, measurable results. It should identify possible harms, respect local agency, and show how the solution can be maintained and expanded by the communities it is meant to serve.
language
courts
remaining
complex
creating
other
Future progress on human development and planetary health depends on solving language barriers in care. Conventional approaches have proven insufficient. The required intervention must integrate community knowledge, data and appropriate technology while remaining affordable, privacy-preserving and operable with minimal external support. Strong solutions will articulate measurable impact metrics, risk mitigation strategies, and a plan for sustained operation by local actors after the pilot phase.
approaches
language
barriers
care
creating
social-civic-problems
The problem of languages dying every year continues to affect hundreds of millions of people and undermines progress on multiple Sustainable Development Goals. Existing responses remain fragmented, under-resourced and poorly adapted to local contexts. A strong solution must operate effectively under severe constraints of skilled personnel, infrastructure, electricity and connectivity. It should define clear measurable outcomes, identify possible unintended harms, and demonstrate how the intervention can be sustained by local institutions long after initial funding ends.
sustainable
languages
dying
every
year
other
Rapid language change driven by neural interfaces may make ordinary conversation between grandparents and grandchildren impossible without permanent translation layers. The problem is preserving mutual understanding and cultural continuity without forcing everyone onto the same implant standard or erasing linguistic diversity.
language
neural
maintaining
intergenerational
communication
health-biology
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Companies can use AI to generate legal language that's technically accurate but deliberately obscures consumers' actual rights, making it harder to understand what protections truly apply. Improving genuine clarity in these documents remains unresolved.
climate-environment
global-unspecified
legal
rights
don
have
scalable
way
prevent
systems
generating
misleading
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
AI language models have been shown to generate plausible-sounding but entirely fictional legal citations, and this has already caused real problems in actual court filings. Building reliable safeguards against this in legal workflows remains an unresolved and urgent challenge.
society-governance
global-unspecified
legal
reliable
build
fully
systems
detect
ai-generated
content
filing
includes
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
mathematics-logic
way
determine
open
United States, North America
Automated content generation makes it cheap to flood the internet with thousands of low-value pages designed purely to capture search traffic and ad revenue. This is measurably degrading the overall usefulness of web search.
climate-environment
north-america
united-states
don
have
reliable
way
prevent
large
language
models
being
generate
global-unspecified
whether
philosophy-ethics
determine
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Contracts translated using automated tools can sometimes contain subtle errors that create legal ambiguity between parties speaking different languages, and verification processes haven't fully adapted to catch these risks. Closing this legal exposure gap remains unresolved.
climate-environment
global-unspecified
legal
errors
contracts
create
ambiguity
don
have
scalable
way
detect
philosophy-ethics
whether
resolved
determine
agreed
prevent
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Voice assistants can still struggle to accurately understand commands in households with background noise, multiple speakers, or mixed languages, leading to frustrating and sometimes unsafe misunderstandings. Improving this reliability remains an ongoing technical challenge.
climate-environment
global-unspecified
voice
assistants
commands
households
haven
solved
prevent
misinterpreting
noisy
multilingual
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
technology-computing
resolved
way
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Automated captioning has improved significantly but still performs unevenly across different accents, dialects, and less common languages, leaving some users with far less accurate accessibility support than others. Closing this accuracy gap remains incomplete.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
captioning
accurate
accents
languages
yet
build
universally
accessible
transcription
tools
whether
philosophy-ethics
haven
mathematics-logic
resolved
determine
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Even with privacy safeguards, AI models can sometimes reproduce specific pieces of sensitive information they encountered during training when prompted the right way. Fully preventing this kind of unintentional data leakage remains an unresolved technical challenge.
society-governance
global-unspecified
models
sensitive
training
data
haven
solved
prevent
large
language
inadvertently
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
resolved
way
technology-computing
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Translating content for different markets requires more than swapping words, since humor, idioms, and cultural references often need deeper adaptation that automated tools still handle poorly. Achieving this at scale and low cost remains an unresolved technical challenge.
economics-resources
global-unspecified
automated
content
tools
cultural
build
fully
localization
adapt
context
not
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
haven
technology-computing
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
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
Most software vulnerabilities trace back to common coding mistakes that better language design could prevent from the start. Despite decades of research, mainstream programming still makes these mistakes easy to make.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
programming
make
don
have
languages
writing
secure
bug-free
code
default
whether
philosophy-ethics
way
determine
resolved
agreed
Depression and anxiety are widely underreported due to social taboos, leaving many untreated for years. Anonymous digital counseling platforms tailored to local languages could lower the barrier to seeking help.
technology-computing
asia
mental-health
seeking
mental
health
stigma
asian
cultures
prevents
people
care
depression
health-biology
global-unspecified
access
remains
african
Lack of trained teachers and computer labs keeps rural students from developing skills needed for tech careers. Mobile coding labs and free online curricula in local languages could expand access.
social-civic-problems
asia
coding
students
stem
education
remains
inaccessible
outside
major
asian
cities
access
global-unspecified
african
rural
low
africa
Major language models and voice assistants poorly support languages like Bengali, Vietnamese, or Tagalog, excluding large populations from digital tools. Building region-specific language datasets is a major open opportunity.
technology-computing
asia
vietnam
language
support
tools
languages
local
remains
weak
south
southeast
asian
global-unspecified
whether
philosophy-ethics
african
digital