How to Use AI for Problem-Solving

AI excels at asking questions, looking at a problem from new angles, and generating options fast. It does not know your situation the way you do, so you get the best results by working through it step by step.

A well-defined problem is half solved, and AI is excellent at helping you define it.

Help me define this problem clearly. Ask me up to seven questions, one at a time, covering what is happening, since when, who is affected, and what success looks like. Then write a one-paragraph problem statement.

• Ask “why?” five times to dig beneath the symptoms
• List every possible cause, then rank each by evidence
• Keep facts apart from assumptions
• Ask AI which causes are most likely and how to test each

Big problems feel impossible. Have AI split the problem into smaller parts you can solve one by one, and show which parts depend on others.

Give me 15 different ways to solve this problem, ranging from safe to bold. Include at least three unusual ideas. For each one, name one benefit and one risk.

Quantity first, judgment later.

First principles

Strip it down to basic truths, then rebuild

Inversion

Ask how to make the problem worse, then avoid exactly that

Second-order thinking

Ask what follows after the first effect

Constraints

Ask what you would do with half the time or half the money

Have AI apply one model at a time to your problem.

Imagine we picked this solution and it failed badly six months from now. List the ten most likely reasons, and how we could prevent each one.

• Compare the top options in a table: cost, time, risk, and impact
• Settle what matters most before you score anything
• Have AI argue against your favorite option
• Make the final call yourself, and write down why

• Turn the solution into a small experiment
• Define success before you see the results
• Review the results and adjust

• AI can sound confident even when it is guessing
• It can agree with you too easily, so ask it to push back
• It lacks your full context, so feed it facts, not just feelings
• Verify any facts it brings in

Define

What exactly is the problem?

Diagnose

Why is it happening at all?

Generate

What could we try?

Decide

What will we do, and for what reason?

Test

How will we know it has worked?