Why Data Products Break the Binary

In my previous column, I wrote about the mental health AI industry heading toward a chasm between enthusiastic early adopters in research labs and the overwhelmed humans who have to use AI that isn't making them feel better.

The Users We Didn’t Plan For

Millions of people are already using ChatGPT as their therapist—not as a supplement to therapy, not as a journaling tool, but as their actual therapist. They're pouring out trauma at 2 a.m. to a chatbot and asking it whether they should leave their marriage, describing suicidal thoughts in detail, and taking comfort in its responses.

From Market Adoption to Meaningful Integration

When Geoffrey Moore wrote Crossing the Chasm in 1991, he illuminated the gap between early adopters and mainstream markets, becoming a cornerstone of enterprise technology thinking. But AI doesn't play by those rules.

From Scarcity to Abundance Economics

Geoffrey Moore's 1991 concept of the technology "chasm" shaped 3 decades of software development and marketing strategy, expressed in his book Crossing the Chasm: Marking and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers.