How AI Can Be a Solver’s Best Friend

By MindSumo • February 28, 2025

3 MIN

Key points

Used in the right ways, generative AI can be a huge help to any open innovation solver.
AI can enhance and perhaps accelerate the development of skills that are core to open innovation solving.
You can think of generative AI in terms of four roles that support your solving activities.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere and has been for some time now. While ChatGPT was the first tool to get attention, many more tools are now available: Claude, Perplexity, DeepSeek, and many more. And although there is controversy around AI, it can be a helpful tool for professionals in a variety of fields.

When used the right way, AI can be very useful for anyone working on open innovation. It can help improve productivity and make solving problems easier by:

Increasing adaptability and responsiveness
Optimizing tasks and workflows
Uncovering new ideas and insights that might not have surfaced otherwise

AI doesn’t replace your own creativity. Instead, it can boost and speed up the development of skills that are important for successful problem-solving in open innovation.

4 Ways AI Can Help in Problem-Solving

You can think of AI as having four roles that can support your work:

1. Research Assistant

AI can do a lot of research for you. For example, if you’re designing a new type of toothbrush, you can ask AI to show you how toothbrush designs have changed over the last ten years. This helps you get a strong foundation for your work, in much less time than doing it on your own.

2. Brainstorming Buddy

AI can help you come up with new ideas. Use prompts to get AI to generate suggestions and spark your own thoughts. You’ll probably find that AI helps you brainstorm more ideas in less time.

3. Idea Tester

New ideas are often the key to success in open innovation. AI can search the internet to make sure your idea hasn’t already been done, so you don’t waste time with something someone else has already thought of.

4. Advisor

AI can also help you validate your ideas. For example, you can ask it, “I have an idea to solve this problem. What challenges might I face?” or “What problems could I run into if I try to make this happen?”