The human coach and AI coaching discussion and debate continues. Many unknowns and variables exist when examining the impact of AI on the coaching industry and the nature of coaching inside organisations. Certainly, AI coaching can bring value through scalability, accessibility and efficiency, it can democratise coaching in organisations. It can provide and process huge amounts of data to help clients make decisions after their coaching.
But, there are also risks associated with AI based coaching. It can become a ‘going through the motions’ exercise which undermines the principles and purpose of organisational coaching. There is also the risk of human/AI interaction having significant impact on individual, communication and relationship abilities. As it becomes more common place there is a high possibility that many line managers might pass over responsibility for coaching their reports to an AI platform, because they are ‘too busy’ to coach. You might laugh, but watch this space… Finally, it can devalue the human experience and personal nature of coaching. Many more risks outside of these few.
The fact is AI coaching is here to stay, in one guise or another. As the AI algorithms and language models get ever more complex and ‘natural’, so the presence of it becomes ever more real and pervasive. We can’t hide from it as a profession.
So as coaches and leaders as coaches what can we do? One of the things we can increasing consider and focus on what we as human coaches are uniquely placed to do. That no AI can currently do, or replicate, at present, as we have no idea what AI coaching might evolve to. Interestingly, many of these areas are fundamental to what good coaching practice should be like. By bringing these to life more, not only are we validating more our place as coaches, we can also potentially stave off a simple ‘switch’ to AI coaching by organisations. Our humanity and our ability to further that humanity and value in the workplace is sacrosanct for us as coaches and the people we serve.
The biggest AI coaching limitation, that we must leverage
Whilst AI coaching can perform many of the functions of a coach such as asking questions, tailor development plans, use processes or coaching frameworks etc. It can’t presently recognise that coaching isn’t simply just about asking questions that lead to insight generation, that leads to action. We as coaches know that coaching isn’t linear in nature.
We recognise that coaching is about person-to-person interaction, relationships, exploring and understanding meanings, experimenting around situations and topics, providing in the moment feedback based on words or observation. All of which lead to changed thinking and behaviours. All of those things that make us unique, communicative, relationship building, intuitive beings and coaches are what we need to leverage most. No matter how hard it tries AI cannot be a human. That is our strength, and the elements which make our coaching real.
For examples. Whilst AI coaching chatbots can ask perfectly valid questions. They don’t know what is the ‘right question’ for this person. Why this question is valid for this person, at this particular moment, in their particular situation, system, having considered what has happened before and what might happen after. To pit it bluntly. AI chatbots don’t have our emotional intelligence – yet!
Let’s look at some key parts of coaching and how we can and should focus our value add.
Coaching Goals / identifying the purpose of the coaching session
Sure, a chatbot and help someone set a goal or target. But what they can’t properly do is examine the nuances of that goal in the context of the person or their situation. AI is often blind to the immediate and historical context which is used to inform goal setting or testing.
Often when goal setting, or finding the purpose of the conversation as coaches often we break client thoughts and ideas down to get clarity and specificity from them. Or, we actually challenge the person we might know and ask them is this the ‘right’ goal or sufficiently challenging? Will it really given them what they believe they need? This insight to not take everything as presented is an innate coaching attribute.
What is also important here is within this bringing in the personal element to the purpose – the importance, the impact, the emotional, the values and beliefs. In this way from the outset, the personal and human element is continuous throughout the conversation. This is something the AI coach is poorer at.
However, this being said, research suggests that both human and AI can have comparable improvement on goal attainment (Terblanche et al 2022). So, we do have to ‘up our game’ in bringing clarity, intention and direction to the purpose of our coaching conversations.
Coaching outcomes
We as coaches can more likely guarantee meaningful behavioural change with our clients and clients. Whilst AI coaching can help generate insights and action plans, it cannot ensure that a coachee actually changes and sustains their behaviours. Especially when under pressure, or translating it into lived practice and performance. Our conversations before, during and between coaching sessions brings out ownership and accountability between parties. Clients are more likely to be accountable to a fellow human than a computer screen.
How can AI coaching chatbots determine what success looks like for an individual as they personally grow and evolve in themselves in their situations? We as humans can and should be able to make professional in the moment judgements about when to challenge, give feedback, to support them or even to refer or stop the coaching. Human coaches can look at all the visual, emotional, contextual, personal information in the moment to judge when to intervene and how best to intervene.
Coaching relationships and AI coaching
Only human coaches can create genuine human to human interaction and connections, helping clients feel seen, heard, and understood. Whilst AI chatbots might be able to generate degrees of empathy, it can’t share the same lived experience, vulnerability, embodied presence or a reciprocal relationship. As much as it is present in science fiction films, intimate and real human connection is not yet a shared preserve with AI chatbots. Clients are more likely to build trusting relationship with other humans than an AI coach.
However, advances in AI are starting to show that in some cases AI is beginning to be able to show more empathy than their human counterparts (Forbes 2026). Whilst AI will be able to generate simulated human empathy, it will never be able to replicate having a human genuinely ‘present’ with you. This is important when discussing areas such as conflict with others, fear of failure, vulnerability, shame, career change and choices.
Also, where there is a relationship with a coach, the coachee or client is less likely to simply drop the coach, when things get tough, or they disagree with what the coach shares with them. There is human to human accountability.
Where coaching conversation exposes vulnerability, more personal work-related matters, especially around identity, shame, conflict or career risks, people benefit from knowing there is another human being alongside them. Metaphorically holding their hand through something, or walking with them through a situation. Not simply producing a manufactured response.
Coaches have the ability to ‘sense’ relationships as they flex, shift and ‘wobble’. As relationships are exposed to resistance, attachment, alliance or avoidance, so a human coach can adapt equally to this. Whilst AI chatbots might be able to infer from language used, but it cannot reliably experience the relationship, or what is going on beneath the surface. Use of AI might over time diminish the use and trust of our own intuition or gut feelings over something. We become dependent on something, rather than ourselves.
Coaches are able to pick up on things that aren’t verbal – hesitation, energy, posture, changes in tone, tension, and incongruence between words and body language. Whilst AI coaching can analyse video and audio, it doesn’t experience the room with the client. That experience, leads to intuition and a determination to intervene, or not, and the suitability of some questions.
In the next part of this blog…
In the next part of this blog, I will examine how us as coaches are best place over AI to coach the person. How AI coaching can use frameworks, but struggle to step outside of these. What advantages we have over AI coaching when it comes to coaching dynamics. And finally, where AI coaching sits around moral and ethical judgments.
Nick Howell is an Executive Coach, Facilitator and Author of best selling book ‘Great Coaching Questions‘. From leadership and coaching development, to ‘soft’ skills to establishing mentoring in organisations, he is passionate about people development and changing people’s thinking and behaviours to achieve improved performance. Contact him today for a chat about adding further value to your organisation’s people development. Contact him on 07867 785314 or nick@abintus.co.uk