Following on from our article ‘What’s left for the human leader in a world of AI?’, we now look at AI in the field of coaching. We see an expanding role for AI, but the human will dominate relational coaching – a transformative approach that emphasizes the quality and depth of the emotional connection between coach and coachee.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has achieved plenty of publicity in the past year, principally from the rollout of ChatGPT and its ever-expanding list of workplace capabilities, from drafting cover letters to providing feedback on reports and proposals.
Coaching offers a greater challenge. An experienced human coach has the knowledge and empathy to explore emotions, make associations, and use intuition and imagination to help their client progress – all deeply human qualities. Given they are so hard to replicate, where does AI’s potential in coaching lie?
In general, AI has worked best when tackling complex but well-defined problems, like diagnosing rare sarcomas or identifying fraudulent financial transactions. Developers and users of AI in coaching have therefore focused on models and functions that can translate most effectively into a digital form.