AI in the Coaching Room? How Far Is Too Far?

What coaches and professionals are saying and where they pause

As AI becomes a more familiar presence in our lives and workspaces,  the coaching community faces a unique opportunity and responsibility to engage with it consciously.

To explore this shift, we reached out to a few experienced professionals, including voices from the Regal community, individuals who bring both coaching depth and digital curiosity.

We’re grateful to each of them, Madhu Gade, Narayann Swaami and Mani Mohan Sitaraman for taking the time to share how they’re experimenting with GenAI and its tools, the boundaries they choose to maintain, and how they see the role of AI evolving in the coaching space.

 Here’s what they shared:

Would you ever delegate session prep or follow-up to an AI assistant? Where would you draw the line?

“I use GenAI tools to support my session preparation and post-session follow-ups, but I don’t delegate my core coaching responsibilities to AI assistants.”

~ Madhu Gade

“Some amount of session prep ( to see how l am coming across until l find comfort with my style, delivery and presence) – yes. Follow up is an easy task to delegate unless the coachee has preferences – this can be sorted out as part of the coaching agreement.”

~ Narayann Swaami

“Yes. First I will create the guardrails and within those guardrails I will allow the AI assistant to function when it comes to coaching.”

~ Mani Mohan Sitaraman

Have you experimented with AI for tasks like session notes, insights, content creation, or supervision? What has worked well? What did you find limiting?

“I use AI tools for content creation, especially for newsletters and posts. They’ve worked very well for generating text, though the image generation still leaves room for improvement.”

~ Madhu Gade

“Yes. Session notes and insights already work well as does content creation. For supervision l would still use MCC level humans.”

~ Narayann Swaami

“Yes. First, I prepare 80% of the work and then leverage AI this approach has helped me a lot better. AI does well in managing case studies and creating session notes.”

~ Mani Mohan Sitaraman

What do you think the rise of AI brings for you, personally and professionally?

“When used thoughtfully, AI can be incredibly helpful both personally and professionally. I’m currently using it to brainstorm ideas, design workshops, and create newsletters.”

~ Madhu Gade

“A tool to supercharge or enable growth and maybe competitive edge in the market, but then nothing changes too much because everybody also gets into the game and only a matter of time before they catch up.”

~ Narayann Swaami

“It has added wings to me and I have to learn to fly.”

~ Mani Mohan Sitaraman

How do we maintain coaching ethics in an AI-assisted world?

“I’m very careful not to share any personal details of coaching clients with AI tools. I don’t use AI during the coaching conversation itself and I treat AI the same way I would treat another person when it comes to respecting confidentiality.”

~ Madhu Gade

“Constant monitoring and only delegating or scaling what works. I should always be having a level of control on what l would be represented as.”

~ Narayann Swaami

“When we do not have universally accepted definitions of ethics, it prudent to make it clear to the stakeholders what portion of the coaching is AI assisted and what is not.”

~ Mani Mohan Sitaraman

What excites you most (or worries you most) about AI in our profession?

“I’m excited about the opportunities AI brings to support coaches in various aspects of running a coaching business from content creation to session prep and reflection.

At the same time, I’m cautious about the confusion caused by rapid changes and overhyped trends in the AI space. With so much noise, it’s easy to lose focus.

What remains essential, now more than ever is the core skill of coaching the client: being present, listening deeply, and creating a safe space for growth. No tool can replace that human connection.”

~ Madhu Gade

“The scale does excite but the consequences and potential for misuse and scale false assumptions and set false expectations ( as with any technology) are cause for concern.”

~ Narayann Swaami

We see a range of thoughts. From curiosity to creativity, experimentation to ethics, the responses reflect a spectrum of thoughtful engagement. It’s important to exercise caution and be aware of where to draw the line.

AI might assist a coach, but it can never be one. As always, the heart of coaching remains deeply human.

That said, AI will not replace a coach’s expertise. It will supplement.