I use ChatGPT. I’m also a coach. Which has led me to a slightly uncomfortable—and very interesting—question:
With ChatGPT, who needs a coach?
AI gives us access to an extraordinary amount of information at any hour of the day. We can ask about a 5 p.m. craving, get help preparing for a difficult conversation, generate journal prompts, explore a pattern or ask the question we’re not quite ready to ask another person.
That’s powerful.
But there is a difference between having information and creating transformation.
In this episode, I’m exploring where AI can be a valuable tool in an alcohol-free life and where human connection still matters. A coach can notice the hesitation before an answer, the nervous laugh, the contradiction between what you’re saying today and what you said three weeks ago. A coach can also witness the hard stuff and celebrate the moments that may look small to everyone else but feel enormous to you.
We’ll also talk about why I think AI should challenge coaches to do better. If coaching is simply information, journal prompts and advice, AI can do a lot of that. Good coaching has to offer something deeper.
I’ll also give you a couple of experiments to try with ChatGPT yourself, including asking:
“Based on what I’ve told you, what pattern might I be missing?”
And then noticing not only what you learn, but whether the conversation leads you to take action—and whether there comes a point when you wish you were talking to an actual person.
Perhaps the bigger question isn’t whether ChatGPT can replace a coach. Now that information, ideas and advice are available to us 24/7, what do we still need from each other?
