How do you define the problem your AI project will solve?

How do you define the problem your AI project will solve?

A useful problem statement describes a person's difficulty before it describes your solution. “Create an AI video platform” names a product category. “Help a solo educator prepare a short narrated explanation without repeating the same editing steps” identifies a user and a task worth investigating.

Describe the current workflow

Write down how the user completes the task today. In our illustrative video project, they might draft text, record narration, assemble visuals, and export a file. Identify which step is slow, repetitive, or difficult.

Do not assume every step needs automation. The educator may want help preparing a draft while keeping control over the final explanation. Removing that review step could make the product less useful.

Make the desired improvement observable

Choose something you can compare: time spent preparing a usable draft, the number of manual handoffs, or whether a creator can finish the workflow without outside help. Record a baseline before claiming an improvement.

Avoid inventing targets that sound impressive but have no connection to the user. A faster draft is not a success if correcting its mistakes takes longer than writing the original.

Write a brief problem statement

Use this structure: “For [user], completing [task] is difficult because [specific obstacle]. We want to help them achieve [outcome], while preserving [important constraint].”

For example: “For a solo educator, creating a narrated explainer requires repeated transfers between tools. We want to reduce those handoffs while keeping script review under the educator's control.”

Treat this as a hypothesis until you have evidence. Walk through the existing task with a potential user, ask where the difficulty actually occurs, and revise your brief before committing to a long feature list.