Like many other professions, artificial intelligence (AI) is currently being developed for a coaching application.
Our first contact with AI is through ChatGPT. AI is just coming to existence so there is still a lot of unknown, but we thought we could experiment the most talked AI tool. We asked the tool a few questions about coaching, which we will expand here and in another article.
We didn’t want to jump right into ChatGPT’s answers without giving more context about what it is. And because we are not experts, the best way to explain it is asking ChatGPT itself. Below is the “conversation” we had with the tool before asking about its coaching application.
Us: “What are you?”
ChatGPT: “I am ChatGPT, a large language model trained by OpenAI. I am a computer program designed to understand and generate human language. I can answer questions, engage in conversations, and generate text based on prompts given to me.”
Us: “What is your purpose?”
ChatGPT: “My purpose is to assist users in generating human-like text based on the prompts given to me. I can be used for a variety of tasks such as answering questions, generating creative writing, or even automating conversation tasks such as customer service. My main goal is to make it easier for people to interact with technology using natural language.”
Us: “What do you mean by natural language?”
ChatGPT: “By natural language, I mean the way that people naturally communicate with each other using spoken or written words. As opposed to programming languages, which are designed for machines to understand, natural languages are designed for human beings to understand. I am trained to understand and generate text in natural language, which allows me to interact with users in a way that is similar to how they would interact with other people.”
Us: “Are you artificial intelligence?”
ChatGPT: “Yes, I am a form of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Specifically, I am a machine learning model trained on large amounts of text data. My training allows me to understand and generate text in a way that is similar to how humans do. AI is a broad field that encompasses many different techniques and technologies, but at its core, it is the simulation of human intelligence in machines.”
“Professional coaches may use me in a variety of ways, such as:
“The benefits for coaches using me include:
Saving time: Coaches can use me to automate repetitive tasks and generate content quickly, allowing them to focus on providing high-quality coaching sessions.
Personalization: Coaches can use me to generate personalized coaching prompts and exercises based on the needs and goals of their clients.
Scalability: Coaches can use me to reach a larger audience, for example by generating content for a website or blog, and provide coaching services to clients remotely.
Improved efficiency: Coaches can use me to research and gather information on a wide range of topics, allowing them to stay up-to-date with the latest research and best practices in coaching.
Cost-effective: Using me can save coaches money by eliminating the need to hire additional staff or spend time on repetitive tasks, thus allowing them to focus on providing high-quality coaching services to their clients.”
“Sure, here are a few examples of repetitive tasks that coaches can use me to help with:
Responding to frequently asked questions from clients: Coaches can use me to quickly generate responses to common questions, such as “What is coaching?”, “How does coaching work?”, “What are the benefits of coaching?”, and so on. This can save coaches a lot of time and allow them to focus on more complex or personalized issues.
Generating coaching exercises and prompts: Coaches can use me to generate personalized exercises and prompts based on the specific needs and goals of their clients. For example, a coach working with a client who wants to improve their communication skills can use me to generate exercises that focus on active listening, assertiveness, and nonverbal communication.
Research: Coaches can use me to quickly research and gather information on a wide range of topics related to coaching, such as the latest research on coaching techniques and best practices, case studies, or the coaching industry news.
Generating content for marketing and promotional purposes: Coaches can use me to generate articles, blog posts, and other written materials that can be used to educate and inform potential clients about coaching and the services offered.
Answering questions about administrative procedures: Coaches can use me to answer questions about administrative procedures such as scheduling, payment, client intake forms, and so on.”
We are pleasantly surprised by the quality of the language used by the machine. The content, on the other hand, needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
We would highly discourage coaches (or anyone, as a matter of fact) to use ChatGPT or any other AI tool for research at this point in time. There have been numerous examples of bias and errors shown in ChatGPT’s answers. For example, when asked for a bibliography on a specific topic, the tool gave a very convincing list of books that had actually never been published. To find studies and real publications, it is best to use known websites like ResearchGate or Google Scholar.
Aside from this aspect on research that we would strongly advise not to trust, coaches can ChatGPT’s answers as a way to find new ideas. We recommend to always double check that the statements ChatGPT shares with you about coaching are true if you are using them with your clients.
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