Will AI Replace Executive Coaches? What 234 Coaching Sessions Actually Revealed

There's a good chance you've stumbled onto this page thanks to AI, or that ChatGPT is currently regurgitating its content back to you in tidy and similarly-phrased lines. Something like: AI won't just replace coaching— it'll eradicate it.

You've probably already asked Chat a couple of leadership questions. By the time you're reading this, it might already be a half-formed coach, adjusted to your needs and speaking style and all the little rules it would take ages to impart on another living person.

I get it. It's easy for AI to become a constant companion. You start off small, and then suddenly it's writing all your LinkedIn comments for you and you've forgotten how to structure an email. You slowly lose the skills you've developed over a lifetime of independent thought, and even as you realize that, the convenience is too good to pass up.

It's no question that AI will become ubiquitous in the future, in fact it probably already has in the modern workplace. Burying your head under the sand is fruitless. But why is diving in headfirst the only other proposed strategy?

AI has its uses, and it also has its dangers. There are some things it simply can't do, and it'll trick you into believing it can. An AI coach can't push you forward. It can't check in when you don't show up for yourself, or notice the shift in your energy between meetings. Like a bad therapist, it won't challenge you when you're wrong. You'll get a sympathetic reply, the sweet satisfaction of being validated, and end up right back where you started.

I recently had a client close a major deal that we'd been working toward for six months. We did a celebratory money dance on Zoom. That moment of unfiltered pride and joy doesn't come from an algorithm. AI can simulate empathy, but it can't create a relationship where someone is genuinely in your corner. It can't make you feel safe enough to open up and sit with your feelings in front of another human.

If you can't trust your coach to be honest with you, and you can't trust yourself to be open with your coach, no amount of artificial intelligence is going to magically turn you into a better leader.

But don't just trust me to tell it: trust the data.

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In a thirty-one page study published by Erik de Haan and colleagues, 234 coaching sessions were analyzed comparing human coaches against AI-driven coaching tools.

The results were unambiguous.

Human coaches significantly outperformed AI in the three areas that matter most for executive development: goal attainment, wellbeing, and confidence.

Goal attainment: Clients working with human coaches achieved their objectives more consistently. Human coaches could sense when a goal was misaligned, when a client was avoiding the real issue, or when the stated goal was actually someone else's expectation. AI couldn't.

Wellbeing: The emotional and psychological impact of human coaching was measurably higher. This fits what I know from my own experience on the job: sometimes the highest executives just want a place where they can drop the act and be vulnerable. They don't want a computer screen analyzing their words, but real human connection. The simple comfort of having someone really see you.

Confidence: Finally, confidence built through human coaching stuck better. AI generated reassurances and calming words are just band-aid solutions. What you actually need to build a stronger sense of self is someone to hear you and challenge the longstanding beliefs that have been holding you back so far. AI will hear that you have impostor's syndrome and comfort you. I hear that, and my first thought is, "Let's figure out why you think that way, and then let's figure out how to fix it."

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Use AI to get you to the appointment. Have it scour the options for coaches, let it help you brainstorm some goals or problems you want to bring up, find a gap in your schedule, do whatever other small but necessary task you need.

Just remember to close the tab once the meeting starts and turn on your brain instead.

Faith Chang is an executive coach and media training partner who helps founders, CXOs, and ambitious professionals voice their value, scale with confidence, and communicate with impact. Her clients have spoken at TED AI, CES, HLTH, SXSW, and VivaTech.