{"slug": "the-problem-market", "title": "The problem market", "summary": "Herbert Lui argues that as AI intensifies competition in the job market, individuals should focus on identifying problems to solve rather than seeking traditional employment, citing his friend who found success by power washing driveways. Lui suggests that the 'problem market' is open and growing, allowing people to use AI as a tool to build solutions.", "body_md": "When I was in university, my friends and I competed to get good summer jobs.\n\nOne of my friends stood out though. He successfully applied for a grant from the local government, bought power washing equipment, and washed driveways around the neighborhood. There was so much business that he even got to hire a few of our other friends.\n\nThis friend didn’t look for a job, [he looked for a problem](https://herbertlui.net/the-night-i-became-an-entrepreneur/).\n\nThe job market has generally always been competitive. AI has made things more so. Even top talent will need to compete harder for a good job, and they’re subject to market forces.\n\nOn the other hand, the problem market is wide open, and [always growing and changing](https://herbertlui.net/the-future-of-work-is-made-up/). Instead of competing with AI, finding a problem means you can hire it to build a solution.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-problem-market", "canonical_source": "https://herbertlui.net/the-problem-market/", "published_at": "2026-07-30 03:11:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-01 17:32:26.416885+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Herbert Lui"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-problem-market", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-problem-market.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-problem-market.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-problem-market.jsonld"}}