In this session, Sam Isaacson, co-founder of AI Coach.chat, explored the rapidly evolving intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and coaching, focusing on the potential future of coaching in 2025. He provided a detailed overview of how AI is being integrated into the coaching profession and how coaches can adapt to the ongoing changes.
Key Themes Discussed:
1. The Diffusion of Innovation Model in Technology Adoption:
• Isaacson explained the Diffusion of Innovation Model, which shows how technology adoption progresses through stages: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.
• He highlighted that AI is currently in the early majority stage, with more professionals beginning to use tools like ChatGPT. He emphasized the need for coaches to push themselves to adopt technology earlier, as many of their clients may already be in more advanced stages of tech adoption.
2. The Role of AI in Coaching:
• Isaacson discussed how AI can serve as a tool to increase the accessibility of coaching to a broader audience, potentially reaching thousands of clients simultaneously.
• He demonstrated how AI models, like ChatGPT, can provide reflective coaching sessions by using prompts and generating intelligent, non-directive coaching questions.
• He shared that while AI excels at following structured coaching models like Clean Language, it lacks human qualities such as empathy, relationship-building, and personal connection.
3. Demonstration of AI in Coaching Practice:
• Isaacson provided a live demo of ChatGPT acting as a Clean Language coach, illustrating how the AI adheres strictly to the Clean Language model without interrupting or going off-script.
• He also demonstrated AI Coach.chat, a platform designed for coaching at scale. This AI platform could coach individuals on specific goals, provide summaries, and identify recurring themes, such as stress or email management, across coaching conversations.
• Isaacson noted that AI coaching platforms can collate keywords and themes across large coaching programs, providing valuable insights for organizations without breaching confidentiality.
4. AI vs. Human Coaches:
• Isaacson emphasized that AI should not be viewed as a replacement for human coaches but as a supplement. AI excels in accessibility and scale, but human coaches bring the “magic” of personal connection, deep listening, and the ability to navigate complex emotional landscapes.
• He posed a challenge for coaches: rather than competing with AI, they should focus on what makes their human coaching unique and irreplaceable.
5. Ethics, Confidentiality, and Data Privacy:
• Isaacson raised the issue of confidentiality in AI-driven coaching, arguing that the term confidentiality should be replaced with data privacy and information security, as true confidentiality is difficult to guarantee with technology in the loop.
• He encouraged coaches to understand the nuances of data privacy and security to better protect their clients and navigate the ethics of AI in coaching.
Looking Ahead:
Isaacson concluded with a vision for the future of coaching, where AI will likely play a role in scalable coaching, making coaching accessible to more people. He suggested that coaching organizations could offer AI-powered coaching to larger groups while reserving human coaches for complex, high-stakes engagements, allowing for more effective and personalized interventions.
This session encouraged coaches to embrace technology while sharpening their human skills, ensuring they remain relevant in an AI-enhanced future of coaching.
Course Content
Organisation
BECKETT MCINROY CONSULTANCY (BMC) comprises of passionate, highly qualified and experienced Coaches, Trainers, Researchers, SUPERvisors, Mentor Coaches, Psychometrists, Writers and Consultants with PhDs, MBAs and Master Coaching credentials. We partner with you to understand your pressure points and strengths. Our projects involve accredited coach training provisions, one-on-one executive coaching, team and board coaching, leadership development and profiling tools. We work across sectors globally ensuring that your personal, professional and organisational requirements are met through bespoke provisions. Clients include LEGO, Citi, DHL and Saudi Aramco, to name a few. Our team travel extensively whilst residing in North America, Qatar, Canada, UK, Bahrain, France, Kenya, Germany, France, Iran, Egypt and Indonesia.
Founded through our passion to enable people, teams, organisations and communities to achieve their potential, BECKETT MCINROY CONSULTANCY (BMC) believes that co-creation brings positive transformation for all. We believe that systemic coaching cultures and impactful leadership development programmes can empower humanity and change our world. We are all leaders of ourselves, careers, families, teams and organisations.
We provide bespoke and award winning leadership development programmes, approved and accredited professional coach, mentor coach and supervision training, systemic executive, team and board coaching, psychometric profiling and shadow consulting. Our team of experts have worked across sectors globally.
We have continued to win numerous awards for our CoachME accredited and approved training programmes enabling Senior Executives, Leaders, Managers, Mentors, Coaches and SUPERvisors, to gain accreditation and credentials through:
* International Coaching Federation (ICF) – Associate Certified Coach (ACC), Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Master Certified Coaches (MCC) and Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (ACTC)
* European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) – Practitioner (P), Senior Practitioner (SP), Master Practitioner (MP) and European Supervision Individual Award accredited SUPERvisor (ESIA)
* Centre for Credentialing and Education (CCE) – Board Certified Coach (BCC)
* Association for Coaching (AC) – Foundation Coach/Foundation Executive Coach, Coach/Executive Coach, Professional Coach/Professional Executive Coach, Master Coach/Master Executive Coach
