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How to Change Your Problem-Solving Mindset and Boost Creativity

7 points by xCodehunter ↗ HN
I am tired of thinking about problems and trying to solve them. I have some ideas for a side hustle, but whenever I share them with my friends or family, they tend to talk negatively about it or say that the idea will not work. Now, I just want help from this community on how to think creatively and get great ideas.

I would love to hear ideas about how we can use AI, especially generative AI in any sector which is Impactful or any problems you all face.

28 comments

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ungreased0675
Pretty much every startup today is thinking about how to use generative AI. Is that what you want your side hustle to be about?
xCodehunter
Yes I am looking for that
tripleo1
Personally I would like to see instances of where gen ai is actually useful.

An example: rewrite this java code in clojure/scala with lenses. (already done, don't bother...)

xCodehunter
The thing is that OpenAI is a kind of evil where if they see any kind of potential in that product and generative AI is used then they will create the same thing. And if that product is using ChatGPT then it's gone. I am not only saying about ChatGPT it's also google Microsoft and all the big companies.
altdataseller
Ive said this in the other thread but come up with a problem first. You are putting the horse before the carriage or whatever. Come up wirh the privlem first. You cant worry about a gazillion thjngs at once
xCodehunter
Your are absolutely correct but what are the problems I am trying my best to search problems but when I think about my problems I don't get any thing and when I ask my close onces they just don't know what problems they are having which can solve by a app or web app or desktop app. Now let me ask you directly what problems are you facing?
altdataseller
This is kinda meta but one problem i have is finding people in an industry to interview about their problems. you can of course spray and pray linkedin messages and hope someone is willijg to give you their time. Or ask your friends. But none of them are likely to be fruitful or it will take a long time.

What would help would be a network that will offer me 1 hour calls with profiessionals in an industry in exchange for $xxx

meiraleal
What problems are you facing?

Clearly, you are facing a problem finding problems to solve.

p1esk
Ideas are cheap. It’s all about “thinking about problems and trying to solve them”.
tripleo1
Also, don't overemphasize thinking. It has already been done by people that are much (much) smarter than you.

Also, you cannot outscan people with millions of dollars at their disposal with the only intent that you cannot make any money yourself from your ideas...

...especially when they are good.

(please disregard the bitter tone.)

xCodehunter
I am really not thinking about this but the thing is whenever I think of an idea and share that idea to someone they just say to my face that this will not work especially family and friends.
p1esk
Can you give us a couple of examples? I mean your ideas.
xCodehunter
### Idea #1:

I had an idea to use AI with a phone's camera to identify any medicine, whether it's in a package or not. This AI would provide information about the medicine, including its uses, symptoms it treats, side effects, and the correct dosage based on the individual's health condition. The inspiration for this idea came from a personal experience in India, where some doctors prescribe higher dosages to earn commissions. My father was given medicine intended for heart or liver transplants, even though he had not undergone any transplant. This AI tool could help prevent such situations by providing accurate and reliable information about medications.

And the medicine name is:mofetil tablets ip 500mg

dualogy
Sounds like a super-worthwhile, valuable & lives-enhancing (or even saving in some cases perhaps!) idea to me.

Your lesson here then: Dont ask people to judge your ideas, unless they're themselves full of good ideas often (in your estimate). Whether family or friends or anyone is irrelevant here on principle.

Here's another ai-but-not-gen-ai idea: app to see how one would look with some specific haircut, from multiple angles or ideally from all angles (feed enough photos for a good-enough "3d skull detection"). One could show their haircut choice rendered in-app to their barbers, and/or barbers could also subscribe to such an app to offer the feature to their present customer, perhaps by live-filming their head for a few seconds. (Something I'd like to exist but not badly enough to make it happen, compared to my other pursuits.)

xCodehunter
I am trying to think about problems And trying to solve but in the first thing is I am not getting problems where generative AI can be used.
xCodehunter
The Main perpose why I want to use AI is I have knowledge and skills in that so.
20240519
The book The Mom Test warns about asking other people about your ideas. Usually because your mum will say “thats a great idea” but the opposite can also be a problem. What you need to know is if people will buy your product. Do market research! Maybe make an MVP and do at least people use the thing alot because they need it or see if people will buy it.
xCodehunter
Your right,I agree with it but,the thing is for a good idea to get example Chatgpt it was Google's transformers architecture where he had done that but still the idea of using was by openAI so to find such good ideas or trying to solve a problem it's kind of hard in this generation. What are your thoughts on this?
xCodehunter
Your correct,but I am finding difficult to get to an Impactful idea where I can use gen AI and do a startup I am even scared because these big giants are smooth in copying these things so how would I defend that one?
20240519
I think the thing to focus on is solving the customers problem rather than starting with “how do I use AI”. You may end up not using AI or just for a single feature of a bigger product.
altdataseller
Come up with a problem first. The other stuff like whether it uses AI or whether some big corp will copy it is something you worry about later
meiraleal
> but whenever I share them with my friends or family, they tend to talk negatively about it or say that the idea will not work

If you wanna get praised, you should share your work, not your ideas.

Get the best idea you had so far and start coding it. Better ideas will come as you understand more the problem.

yogini
Validating your idea is something with which every person struggles initially!

I am a startup founder, building a product in a professional networking space for the last 2 years.

I still meet many people who think and question why we started this! And many many people resonate with our idea and use our product.

The point is, initially not everyone will get the entire picture of what you are doing, plus when it comes to our friends and family, they genuinely want us not to fail and hence keep finding flaws in our ideas. But, if you get a conviction on your idea, build at least an MVP. Go deeper and understand the depth of the water.

Now about finding a good idea —

I would still suggest starting small! If you are tired of finding a problem to solve, find a product that you really like and start building something similar to that. You will end up building something good and useful.

Building a sie project is a topic very close to my heart! I am building a product around this, happy to share about it if you are interested. :)

Good luck!

xCodehunter
Could you share that with me I am interested in it