AI vs Human Coaching - what’s the deal?

There’s been a lot of noise recently about using AI for coaching and therapy. While it’s great that people are using these tools to support themselves, there are lots of things ChatGPT can’t give you when it’s coaching you.

1. Personalisation. A human coach can tailor their approach to you and your needs. AI is just regurgitating info it’s gleaned from the World Wide Web and spouting it at you. There’s value in that, for sure. But the impact of a coach who can provide the support YOU specifically need is transformative.

2. Emotional intelligence. Coaching is emotional. And human coaches use their emotional intelligence to notice cues and patterns and respond to your emotions accordingly. AI has a limited capacity to recognise and address emotional elements of the coaching process.

3. Human coaches see more than the surface. The way we speak, the language we use, the way we move, the energy we give off all tell coaches as much as the words we use when we’re talking to them. Often coaches see things in their clients because they’re looking more closely. AI can only analyse as much information as you give it. Coaches, on the other hand, are often the mirrors we might be avoiding - and it’s this which leads to the biggest changes.

4. Empathy and compassion. Even the smartest AI hasn’t managed to create real empathy and genuine compassion. It can simulate those qualities, but the genuine emotional connection you get with another human is hugely impactful. This connection leads to greater trust, and when we trust a coach, we’re able to be the most honest versions of ourselves. Coaches see us much more clearly than AI ever will.

5. Flexibility & adaptability. Every session I run with a client is tailored to their needs. If we have a ‘plan’ but they bring something different to the table, we’ll flex to that. And coaching isn’t just talking either. It might include exercises and prompts to help raise awareness, break patterns of thinking or see things more clearly. AI is never going to ask you about where you feel a decision in your body. But sometimes that’s where the answers are.

6. Human experience. As the client, you’re in the driving seat when it comes to coaching. It’s not about the coach and their own life experiences. But a human coach might offer you theories about the things they’re noticing in your interactions, drawing on their own experience of coaching others. Those insights are often where the magic happens.

AI coaching can offer really valuable insights and useful guidance but working with a human coach provides an experience which is much more tailored to you. Not only that, but I’d argue a human coach is probably more eager to see you succeed and do the things you want to do than a robot which is just repurposing advice it’s gleaned from the internet.

What do you think? Have you tried AI coaching with a tool like ChatGPT? How was it?