Coaching in the Age of AI: Trust, Tools, and What Remains Human

"Coaching in the age of AI" sounds straightforward—until you ask what it actually means. Niko asked AI and got 20 different interpretations. Are we coaching leaders to use AI? Coaching AI systems themselves? Being replaced by AI coaches? Leveraging AI to become better coaches? The answer is yes to all of them—and therein lies the problem.

Niko anchors a conversation that refuses to pretend coaching will stay the same. Joining him are Mark, who's discovered his 15 years of coaching skills are more valuable in the AI world, not less, and Ali, bringing his characteristic skepticism about what "coach" even means anymore. With AI tools now capable of asking great questions, maintaining perfect consistency, and never forgetting a conversation, the hosts confront what remains uniquely human about the coaching relationship.

Ali frames the stakes bluntly: "Either you gonna become a good question asker in the moment... or you're an expert in something which leans more towards the teacher profile... or you're going to be irrelevant." AI can already ask triggering questions that help people think and contextualize. But can it interject at the right moment? Can it read the room when someone's arms are crossed—and know whether that means they're closing off or focusing deeply?

Mark cuts to what he considers foundational: "The instant that you are not treated as a vault, your ability to coach effectively is gone." When AI enters a coaching conversation—transcribing, analyzing, mining for insights—what happens to the psychological safety that makes coaching work? Niko's response is visceral: "It was the first time in my life I said no to a technology innovation."

Yet Mark also grounds the theoretical in reality: use AI to summarize past coaching conversations, identify patterns across sessions, prepare better for calls. "Really practical, really down to earth. No science fiction required."

The episode doesn't declare coaching dead or triumphant—it maps the territory where trust, technology, and human connection collide. For coaches wondering what to invest in and what to release, this conversation offers something rarer than answers: honest uncertainty from practitioners navigating the same questions.