World Solve

The problem of raw sewage discharged directly into waterways 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.

Safety filters designed to block clearly harmful requests can sometimes be bypassed through indirect or creatively phrased questions that still elicit dangerous information. Closing this gap while preserving the system's general usefulness remains an unresolved balancing act.

Digital contracts can potentially be modified after signing in ways that aren't always immediately detectable without specialized forensic review. Building this verification directly into standard contract systems remains incompletely adopted.

Automated pricing systems can sometimes raise prices sharply during shortages or emergencies based purely on demand signals, without regard for fairness or necessity. Building ethical guardrails directly into these systems remains inconsistently implemented.

Even without directly stating private information, AI models can sometimes reveal sensitive details indirectly through patterns in how they respond to certain prompts. Fully closing this subtle privacy leak remains an unresolved technical challenge.

Location-based data used by AI models can sometimes act as a proxy for race or income, indirectly leading to unfair lending or insurance decisions even without explicit discriminatory intent. Fully removing this hidden bias remains an unresolved technical and regulatory challenge.

AI tools can generate large volumes of content that closely mimics existing creative works without directly copying them word for word, making plagiarism harder to detect through traditional methods. Protecting original creators from this kind of derivative flooding remains unresolved.

This relic of the Big Bang has not been directly detected. Novel detectors and cosmological analysis methods are needed.

Untreated factory effluent and sewage flow directly into major rivers, harming both ecosystems and communities that depend on them for drinking water. River-cleanup technology paired with stricter enforcement is needed.

Viral misinformation has fueled real-world violence and health misinformation in several countries with weak media literacy programs. Fact-checking tools integrated directly into popular messaging apps could slow its spread.

Social stigma and weak legal enforcement discourage survivors from seeking help or justice in many communities. Anonymous reporting apps linked directly to support services have improved reporting rates where deployed.

Governments and businesses often absorb disaster costs directly due to lack of accessible catastrophe insurance products. Regional catastrophe bonds and pooled insurance mechanisms could spread and reduce this risk.

A host star is millions to billions of times brighter than a reflecting planet, blinding optical telescopes. Next-generation space interferometers and giant optical starshades are required to resolve exoplanet oceans and continents.

Ground-based laser interferometers like LIGO can only hear high-frequency stellar-mass black hole collisions. Space-based interferometers with million-kilometer laser baselines (like LISA) are required.

Atmospheric pressure and temperatures inside gas giants destroy probes long before reaching their cores. Advanced gravitational mapping, seismic sensors, and neutrino probes are needed to uncover their core states.

Chemical lithium-hydroxide canisters are consumable, heavy, and wasteful for multi-year missions. Algae photo-bioreactors capable of converting human exhaled CO2 directly into oxygen and edible protein are required.

Frequent commercial launches risk disrupting the ozone layer and altering upper-atmosphere global thermal dynamics. Clean-burning propellants like methalox or hydrogen-based engines must be evaluated for environmental impact.

High electricity costs lead small-scale leather and textile processors to bypass treatment systems, dumping heavy metals directly into river basins.

Rapid un-sewered urban expansion relies on pit latrines and unlined septic systems, which seep pathogens directly into the urban water table.

Tinnitus caused by underlying nerve damage is particularly difficult to treat, and current options mostly focus on management strategies like sound therapy rather than addressing the nerve issue directly. A more direct treatment remains undeveloped.