If you think you would never enjoy being coached by an AI, I challenge you. Try it! Whilst I like to think that an AI can never be as good as a real coach like me, it’s not that binary.  It is true that you will not get the same value from being coached by an AI, but you will get value. You may be surprised how effective a coaching conversation with an AI can be. There are, of course, limitations but my own AI, Hans AI, offers some benefits that the real Hans can’t match:

• Access to all the knowledge and skills of ChatGPT
• Endless patience
• Never gets triggered or offended by whatever you throw at him
• Available 24/7
• Completely free

However, you need to know how to drive an AI coach to get maximum value.  Here are a few very simple tips:

Use an AI that is trained to coach

If you use a standard AI such as ChatGPT in its pure form, you will only get answers that share information, rather than a coaching-style conversation.  Coaching AIs, such as Hans AI, have been trained to ask questions back, share encouragement and mimic empathy.

Be specific about what you want

When giving an AI generic instructions such as “I want to be more organised” or “I want to increase my confidence”, it will make assumptions about what you mean and those assumptions may not always be right.  I have trained Hans AI to clarify with clients what they mean when they give generic instructions, but sometimes he still forgets and can get the wrong end of the stick. You will need to help you AI understand what your goals and challenges are.

Stay in control of the conversation

AIs can easily go off on a tangent. For example, if you share that you want to work on your career once you have moved countries, the AI may start coaching you on issues around moving to another country although you wanted to talk about your career.  That’s easy to fix.  Just tell the AI that this is not what you want to talk about and redirect the conversation.

The good thing is that you don’t need to be worried about the feelings of the AI. It does not have any. You can be as critical, direct, controlling and difficult as you want. There is a refreshing freedom in that.

If you follow these simple tips, you will be surprised how much value you can get out of a coaching conversation with an AI.  You can try this yourself right away with Hans AI: https://hansschumann.com/free-coaching

…and here is a special tip:

All of this also works if you work with a REAL life coach.  You will get more out of your coaching session if your coach is well-qualified, you are specific about the outcomes you want to achieve and you stay in control of the conversation. The only difference is that a real coach has feelings.  So, they may not be able to match quite the same degree of patience and resilience as Hans AI.