Harvard Business Review recently revealed the top 10 uses for generative AI in 2025. Number one is therapy. With people increasingly asking AI for guidance in a personal context (and setting aside what that says about the future of the human race), AI is disrupting professional coaching, too.
AI coaching, in which AI tools replace or assist a human coach to guide users in goal setting, skill development and personal reflection, is becoming mainstream. According to a report by Careertrainer.ai, AI coaching platforms serve an estimated 23 million active users globally.
The rise of AI coaching could serve to democratise a career development tool
Research from The Conference Board finds those platforms to be pretty effective: 89% of people who used an AI coach said their session resulted in specific and useful next steps, and 91% said they would use it again. The rise of AI coaching could serve to democratise a career development tool that is often the preserve of the most senior, or those who can afford to pay for it privately.
Choose your platform
Amit Mohindra, author of The Conference Board’s report, says that ‘anyone can fire up a large language model’ – like ChatGPT or Claude – and ask it to behave like an executive coach. Giving such a prompt means the AI will base its interaction off coaching rubrics, he explains.
‘I wish I’d had a coach earlier in my career'
Then there are specifically designed AI coaching platforms like Rocky, BetterUp and AIMY. ‘They attend your meetings, join your Zoom calls, seeing who you meet and how you interact,’ Mohindra says. ‘They know who your manager is, who your manager’s manager is, and give you guidance based on all that.’
An experienced coach himself, Mohindra says he has been ‘blown away’ by the quality of AI coaching and now uses it to support his own practice. ‘I wish I’d had a coach earlier in my career,’ he reflects. ‘Coaching is about getting to know yourself – your triggers, how you’re wired.’ AI could help fill that gap for younger professionals.
