Tech-savvy founders in digital mental health: a growing concern

Over the years, I’ve been approached by many founders looking to develop, market, or scale up their services in digital mental health. Each one of them has always been very driven and intrinsically motivated to make a difference. The solutions they envisioned aimed to create change, not (just) generate revenue. That, in and of itself, makes me hopeful and optimistic for the future.

There is, however, a recent development that does worry me. Parallel to the increasing use of generative AI, there also seems to be a rise in founders — and more broadly, entire small-scale start-ups — with little to no prior expertise in (mental) health. They are often tech-savvy, eager to leverage AI solutions, and rely on publicly available information (e.g., professional guidelines, frameworks, or established best practices) to build their product.

On the one hand, this enthusiasm might facilitate the steady (albeit slow) digitalisation of mental healthcare. On the other hand, it feels somewhat off to me that founders or leadership within these emerging companies have a solid grasp of the digital side, but not so much of the mental health side.

I’m wondering whether other people have had the same impression. And if so, does it concern you, or not at all?