Artificial intelligence is becoming part of our daily lives, and now AI coaching is making professional and personal development more accessible. In this article, I compare programs using artificial intelligence with the human elements of coaching.
The potential benefits of AI coaching
Research into the effects of AI coaching is still in its infancy, but one academic article worth noting has been published by Nicky Terblanche, Joanna Molyn, Erik de Haan and Viktor O Nilsson titled ‘Comparing artificial intelligence and human coaching goal attainment efficacy’. It states that people in poorer areas cannot access coaching – for example, the average cost of an organisational coach in Africa is quoted as being around 100 US dollars.
Price is not the only barrier – qualified coaches are in short supply. More than 40,000 coaches are registered with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), but fewer than 2,000 are based in Africa. Therefore, AI coaching offers a cost-effective solution to provide basic coaching services to every sector of society.
In the UK, professional development coaching has historically been seen as expensive and only accessible to senior executives. This is an entirely different discussion, but I believe middle managers should possess the relevant soft skills so they can grow and flourish as they progress to senior level. AI tools are democratising coaching, so courses are more accessible to employees of all levels. As AI coaching becomes more widespread and accepted, education professionals will be trained to work alongside AI tools to enhance capacity and to automate appointment scheduling, feedback and progress tracking.
When dealing with larger teams, AI coaching tools can provide personal support at scale. For example, teams can be provided with continuous, on-demand assistance in areas like performance management or leadership development when doing their daily tasks. An example of this is The GC Index which has AI-enabled tools such as ChatGCT and GC Translate.
Finally, a key advantage of AI coaching is the way it can manage processes consistently, removing the risk of human coaches not remembering techniques, follow-ups or information provided in previous sessions. AI tools never forget and do not judge, adding a level of neutrality ensuring unbiased guidance which can be very helpful from a DEI perspective.
Are we losing the human touch?
While AI coaching has much to offer, particularly in structured training courses, it has limitations in critical areas needing deep emotional intelligence and human judgement. For example, people problems and leadership performance mean dealing with emotional situations and important decision-making. This is when human coaches can pick up on underlying issues by reading between the lines and interpreting non-verbal communication and cues. This insight helps to develop bespoke strategies that go deeper than simple data-driven responses.
Consider this quote attributed to Carl Gustav Jung: “That is why I say to any beginner: learn your theories as well as you can, but put them aside when you touch the miracle of the living soul. Not theories but your creative individuality alone must decide.”
I firmly believe that the joy of coaching comes from the human-to-human relationship that ultimately leads to successful outcomes. AI coaching can never replace that connection as it requires a coach’s individual skill and experience to pose the right questions, identify problems and probe those deeper issues.
While a computer program can calculate data-driven responses, it cannot replicate the human empathy and emotional depth that is fundamental to coaching. These qualities lie at the heart of building trust and a productive relationship with high-performing individuals.
What is the future of AI coaching?
The article by Nicky Terblanche, Joanna Molyn, Erik de Haan and Viktor O Nilsson found that AI coaching cannot rival human characteristics such as emotional intelligence and empathy that allow human coaches to build bonds with their clients. While AI coaching is not equal to human coaching, technology can be used in specific applications to make support more widely available.
The findings hint at a hybrid model where AI can handle the more routine aspects of coaching (e.g. progress tracking, collecting feedback, goal setting and sending reminders) allowing human coaches to focus on the more complex elements. In effect, the client receives the best of both worlds so in the future the landscape of coaching could be a variety of different models with the most promising being human-led with AI assistance.
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