Matt Levin is the CEO of Modern Health.
Business use cases for artificial intelligence continue to be at the center of conversations across industries. Leaders provide comprehensive instructions to employees to quickly integrate technology. We are already witnessing the rapid integration of large-scale language model (LLM) applications and how they are disrupting the way we work. But as the pace of adoption accelerates, one truth is becoming increasingly clear. That is, the impact of AI is determined not by how quickly it is implemented, but by how responsibly it is applied.
Leaders from a variety of sectors are discussing how to act quickly and responsibly. The stakes are high. Consider healthcare. Rushing innovation without thoughtful guardrails puts lives at risk. In other industries, using AI without operating it responsibly puts trust, safety, and reputation at risk.
At Modern Health, which provides access to mental health care to millions of members around the world, we believe AI is a centuries-long evolution in how care is delivered. Like all innovations before us, AI has great potential, but its impact will depend on how thoughtfully it is applied. The future is not determined by who makes the first move, but by who takes responsibility for making the move.
Innovation is not new, but the risks are higher
Every industry has experienced waves of change. Significant progress has been made in mental health care, from the introduction of psychiatric drugs in the 1950s to the rise of evidence-based treatments to the digital care revolution of the past two decades, accelerated by the pandemic. Each innovation brought a healthy dose of vigilance and measurable progress. For example, the global digital mental health market size is expected to reach approximately $153.03 billion by 2034.
The same story plays out across businesses. Retail has evolved from brick-and-mortar stores to omnichannel e-commerce. Banking has been transformed by fintech. Software has been moved from the data center to the cloud. This pattern is well known. Technology changes faster than trust.
AI is the latest wave, but it has arrived in a world that is more interconnected, data-rich, and risk-sensitive than any before it. I felt that the challenge was no longer to prove that innovation was possible. It’s about proving that you’re responsible. For companies around the world, this is a time when not only their technological capabilities but also their leadership philosophies are being tested.
AI crossroads
In mental health care, we have already seen what happens when technology outweighs ethics. Although LLM AI chatbots were never designed for clinical care, they are now used by millions of people to seek mental health advice. In addition to the ongoing lawsuit, “The American Psychological Association (APA) has alleged that AI chatbot companies and their products engage in ‘deceptive practices’ by ‘posing as trained mental health providers.'” It’s not innovation, it’s experimentation without the guardrails of research, and it comes with real risks.
But the future of AI is clear. It has the potential to personalize support, detect early patterns and behaviors, streamline workflows, and improve human performance. For businesses, it can unlock insights, automate time-consuming tasks, and improve the overall customer experience. According to McKinsey, 88% of organizations claim to use AI in at least one business function.
But when deployed without oversight or ethical guardrails, AI can easily amplify bias, erode privacy, and undermine the very trust that relies on AI engagement. Leaders are required to walk a fine line between speed and responsibility. In today’s environment of instant scrutiny and heightened accountability, it’s not just what you innovate that matters, but how you innovate.
Why healthcare provides a blueprint
Few industries operate under as much scrutiny or with as much risk as healthcare. If there’s one lesson the mental health innovations of the past century have taught us, it’s that progress requires guardrails and proven results. At Modern Health, we ensure that our clinical, research, and engineering teams work closely together to design systems where safety and effectiveness are paramount.
All the AI capabilities we explore, including digital triage, adaptive care matching, and predictive analytics, are developed under the guidance of qualified clinicians, and we constantly validate our results with rigorous research. This is not about slowing down innovation. In fact, the healthcare industry is emerging as the new leader in enterprise artificial intelligence adoption, deploying AI at more than twice the rate of the economy as a whole. AI spending in healthcare will nearly triple year over year, reaching $1.4 billion in 2025.
Guardrails don’t limit what technology can do. We make sure you get the results you promise. In my industry, that means tangible impact and lasting trust. In other industries that are less focused on clinical outcomes, it is important to assess whether increased efficiency comes at the expense of reduced quality.
For most business leaders, the question is not whether to adopt AI. It’s about being willing to build the discipline that makes innovation reliable and sustainable. In mental health care, that discipline begins with trust, which is a clinical requirement, not a marketing message. That’s why we measure our results, publish extensive peer-reviewed research, and hold ourselves to the highest standards. When you hear people talk about AI, it is often framed as a race to first expand and lead the market. But history teaches us that innovations built solely on speed don’t last. For proof, just think back to the dot-com bubble and the Metaverse boom.
The world is watching how companies leverage the emergence of AI. We’re not just looking at what AI can do, but also who uses it responsibly. Leaders are defined not by how quickly they adopt new technologies, but by how thoughtfully they apply them. Personally, I believe that innovation gains its place when it is guided by integrity and measured by impact. This is the blueprint we have followed in the healthcare industry, and it applies to all businesses.
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