Sitting at a patio table, bathed in California sunshine, I listen intently as my client wrestles with a particularly challenging situation they’ve been grappling with over our past few sessions.
Sensing a shift in their perspective, I offer a question to help them visualize their goal.
“When you think about the end of this year, and you imagine yourself feeling deeply satisfied in this area of your life, what do you see?”
Their eyes widen with insight as they begin to describe a mental image in great detail. They can see the decor of the room they’re in and the faces of the people seated around them. Noting physical changes in their body language, I use embodiment to help my client integrate their thoughts and emotions with these physical shifts. They describe feeling physically lighter, as if a weight was lifted off their shoulders. Their face lights up with excitement as we close our session, and they leave feeling emboldened to take action toward making their ideal future a reality, as if a weight has been lifted off their shoulders. Their face lights up with excitement as we close our session, and they leave feeling emboldened to take action toward making their ideal future a reality.
This was a lightbulb moment — one of those gratifying instances when a coach gets to see their client discover a personal insight with profound, far-reaching implications. The question I asked came from a place of empathy and intuition, holding space for my client to visualize their ideal future. An hour after our session ended, they sent me a text thanking me for this newfound clarity.
As coaches, we’re trained to use a range of highly attuned skills and intentional techniques. We help our clients navigate challenges, tackle problems, design solutions, and envision new possibilities. Each coaching session is custom-tailored to the client’s needs at that moment, blending the coach’s personal style with finely tuned expertise. This process is profoundly personal and uniquely designed for each individual.
Why AI Cannot Replace Human Coaches
Coaching is decidedly human-centered work. Artificial intelligence (AI) cannot empathize or intuit.
In the era of AI, there is rampant talk of technology replacing humans in the workplace, and the field of coaching is no exception. Some companies are already advertising AI coaching platforms that give people the illusion of a personal connection. Working with an AI coach is more akin to reading a choose-your-own-adventure story. Readers are offered choices to increase their engagement with the text, but these one-sided interactions lack authenticity. The reader gets to pretend they are guiding the main character’s actions, but they are not actively involved in the creative process.
This is the same dynamic with many AI coaching programs, which act as digital diaries that guide someone through a set of scripted questions. While reflecting on our actions and thought processes has value, this is not coaching. An AI program could ask questions designed to seem responsive, but it can only regurgitate and reorganize the data it’s been given. For example, an AI program can ask someone to describe how they are feeling, but it processes their response literally. It can’t identify or respond to other clues about someone’s emotional state, such as body language, vocal intonation, or eye contact, which often reveal more complex underlying emotions. It is not intuitive, creative, or curious. Therefore, AI is not a viable replacement for our personalized work as coaches. However, just as many clients grapple with AI’s impact in their line of work, coaches would be well advised to consider its place in our profession.
Can AI Play a Role in the Field of Coaching?
The lines between emerging artificial intelligence tools and sophisticated software applications are increasingly blurry. For coaches to effectively support their clients, they need to understand shifts in our global workplace and social structures. Like it or not, AI is here, and it’s not going away. This means our field, like so many other human-centered workforces, would benefit from conversations about this technology’s potential usefulness and the ethical implications related to privacy, intellectual property, and worldwide impacts. In considering the first part of this conversation, there may be some examples where AI could support a coaching practice without intruding into the client-coach relationship:
Coordinating Logistics: Several AI-based platforms offer scheduling and workflow assistance, enabling clients to seamlessly book an in-person or virtual session based on their coach’s availability. These programs can design sample intake questions, confirm appointments, generate reminders, gather client feedback, and schedule future appointments. Data from these programs allows coaches to track popular time slots and optimize future calendaring options. If this type of AI support might be useful for you, here are a few questions to consider:
- Which aspects of your workflow could be automated using AI so you have more time to focus on higher-level thinking?
- What is important for you to manage personally?
Synthesizing Continuing Education: After researching a new coaching method or attending a series of workshops at a conference, AI tools can help coaches synthesize what they’ve learned. Uploading a set of materials, like personal notes, articles, or videos, into an AI program allows coaches to organize their learning materials in one place. These programs can then help coaches reflect on their learning, generate summaries, track patterns, make connections, and aggregate diverse perspectives. If this type of AI support might be helpful for you, here are a few questions to consider:
- In what ways could AI synthesize or organize information to help you better understand an issue or topic you have been exploring?
- How would you go about curating the information you choose to include in this process, remaining mindful of authors’ rights in their published works?
Fostering Personal Reflection and Goal Setting: With a client’s explicit permission, coaches can use AI to generate a transcript or general summary of a session. This affords coaches a valuable opportunity to reflect on their impact and look for patterns they might want to replicate or eliminate in the future. For coaches looking to deepen their work with a mentor coach, these AI-generated notes can serve as a powerful tool for personal growth. Holding words still on paper helps the coach and mentor focus on the most impactful goals to enhance the coach’s future impact with clients. If you are thinking of exploring this type of AI support, here are a few questions to consider:
- What part of your coaching approach would you like to examine in more detail?
- What parameters would you need to have in place to ensure this type of AI support does not impact your ethical or personal commitments to your client?
As coaches reflect on the extent to which AI can play a role in our practice, it’s worth considering the idea that “AI won’t replace coaches, but coaches who use AI might replace coaches who don’t” (Knight, 2025). Coaches who choose to offload some of the logistical burdens that challenge small business owners may find themselves with more time for writing, public speaking, and personal reflection. This inherently expands their capacity to enhance their coaching practice. Likewise, coaches who take time to revisit notes from workshops and engage in ongoing learning may create deeper connections with the latest research-based practices, offering their clients a richer coaching experience.
The Future of Coaching in an AI-Driven World
Like any field, coaching is continually adapting to the needs of our clients. AI has become an emotionally charged topic, but it is undeniably a part of our global discourse. Coaches would be well advised to be informed about the impacts and possibilities of this technology within our field of work. The 2023 International Coaching Federation Global Coaching Study estimates there are 109,200 coach practitioners worldwide, an increase of 54% between 2019 and 2022, and that number continues to grow each year (International Coaching Federation, 2023). In an era when so many coaches are entering this rewarding field, there is an even greater need to connect with colleagues, engage in critical discourse, and remain current in our practice.
In celebration of ICF’s 30th anniversary, there are a number of opportunities for coaches to gather in community, both in person and virtually, to learn from one another and strengthen the impact of our work. These collective moments ensure our clients benefit from a well-informed, closely aligned global network of coaches. We would be wise to use these moments of connection to reflect on the human elements we want to keep at the center of our work while remaining mindful of the ethical and social impacts of new technology.
