Picking the First Industry for a Vertical AI Product: Law Versus Healthcare

In a product manager interview, you are asked to choose which of two industries, law or medicine, your team should target first with an AI or machine learning project. Make a recommendation and explain why. ```hint Score both on the same yardstick Agree on a short list of criteria first and assess law and medicine against each one, so the recommendation comes out of the comparison rather than a first impression. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - What kind of company are we: a large technology firm with general-purpose models, a startup, or an existing player in one of these fields? - What does success look like and over what time frame: early revenue, the largest long-term market, or a technical lead? - Who would use the product: professionals such as lawyers and clinicians, members of the public seeking help, or institutions such as firms and hospitals? - Do we already have data access or partners in either field, or would we start from scratch in both? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Explicit criteria applied evenly to both fields, spanning market, data access, regulation and the cost of a model error - A specific first user and workflow in the chosen field rather than the whole industry - Field-specific risks, including fabricated output, liability, privacy rules and bias in historical data - A clear recommendation, what would change it, and how the other field could follow - Success metrics and guardrails for the first launch ### Follow-up Questions - A competitor launches a strong product in your chosen field shortly before you do. Do you switch? - How would your answer change if the company already had a large partnership with a hospital network? - What results from the first launch would tell you it is time to start on the other field?