New books on AI in coaching

Summer is usually the time of the year when people find some additional time for reading. That's when the famous "summer reads" happen. In this August newsletter edition I am sharing some hot AI books recommendations and announcements ??.

The field of AI in coaching is still in early development. Previously we shared in this newsletter some the developments in the fields of research, theory and International Coaching Federation emerging regulatory framework. There are already a couple of books that are also a part of this early scholarship on AI in learning and development.

AI in Coaching Book Recommendations

One of my favorites is Ethan Mollick ' book Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI. The book is really a groundbreaking piece on Generative AI specifically. It sets 4 so called rules of engagement with gen AI: (1) always invite AI to the table; (2) keep the human in the loop; (3) treat AI as a person; (4) assume this AI is probably the worst you will ever use. At the first look these principles seem perhaps oversimplistic and obvious. but in them we see setting the psychology of human - AI collaboration in the making. In the first two principles Ethan Mollick invites for inclusion of AI in almost all work tasks, while keeping the human eye for accountability, explainability, transparency and ethics of AI outputs. Sounds fair. There has also been a recent debate around benefits and risks of anthropomorphizing AI in line with the third principle. Paradoxically, the more we think of AI as human-like, the less we are likely to agree with AI. In other words, humans were slightly less likely to trust AI which was assigned human characteristics, such as name or gender (e.g. "Jelena AI"). It is interesting to explore in future different effects and cognitive biases related to anthropomorphizing AI identities across work tasks and contexts.

Although Ethan Mollick's book is not specifically devoted to coaching, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in AI in L&D as one of the first books to read. It sets the ground for framing AI - human interaction, provides many sources of inspiration on how to experiment with AI and offers author's personal reflections and original style of thinking about AI. As an anecdote, Ethan Mollick's book has been purchased for all team members and became a mandatory read at Kou?ing centar !

Another important book in the field is editorial work of Jonathan Passmore , Assist.-Prof. Dr. Sandra Julia Diller , Sam Isaacson and Maximilian Brantl . The book titled The Digital and AI Coaches' Handbook: The Complete Guide to the use of Online, AI, and Technology in Coaching is out in 2024 and provides a more direct overview of the field of AI in coaching. Key topics include digital transformation in coaching and how the coaching field is evolving with AI, VR, apps etc., as well as case studies of digital coaching pioneers. The book provides cases of EZRA Coaching , CoachHub - The digital coaching platform , Coaching.com , Sounding Board , PocketConfidant AI, Rocky AI, Optify , Delenta , uExcelerate , evoach - AI coaching companions and Ovida AI. My take on the book is that it provides a comprehensive guide into as is state of the development of AI in coaching. It is written by Jonathan Passmore who has been among the leaders in the field of coaching for decades now and in this book edition he is sharing some innovative ideas about adopting AI in coaching. I would say very brave, forward looking and practical at the same time.

The Digital Coaching Revolution: How to Support Employee Development with Coaching Tech is another pioneering book in the field, written by Anna A. Tavis, PhD and Dr. Woody Woodward, PhD, PCC from 美国纽约大学 . The book provides an overview of how digital coaching is transforming talent management and employee experience, with guidelines on scaling digital coaching across organizations. The book showcases examples of organizations that adopted digital coaching, rather than coaching providers stories as the previous book. Having in mind Woody's involvement with International Coaching Federation leadership about applying AI in coaching, the book is the one to recommend as leading in the field.

There are more examples of interesting books in the field, such as Artificial Intelligence for Learning: How to use AI to Support Employee Development, Preparing Your Organization for New Technologies, L&D's Playbook for the Digital Age, Artificial Intelligence in Training, Education and Consulting: 70 Directly Applicable AI Inspirations for ChatGPT & Co.

AI in Coaching Book Announcement

Continuing the line of scholarship on AI in coaching, I am humbly adding another book piece on the topic. The idea behind the book "AI in Coaching and Human Skills Development: Innovations for Coaches and Educators" is to further expand on importance of human skills in the AI era and elaborate on human - AI collaboration "first principles" like psychological underpinnings. Moreover, the book will provide in depth insights on social, emotional, cognitive and metacognitive capabilities of AI. It will offer practical guidelines on building AI agents, ethical considerations and case studies. Specifically, case study of our Innovation Award Winning AI system Coachia will be presented in detail. Finally, the book will offer insights on mindset and culture shifts that are needed for successful AI transformations in organizations. Drawing on the real-world case studies, cutting-edge research, and practical insights, this book will offer a comprehensive guide for HR professionals, executive coaches, L&D experts, organizational leaders and AI enthusiasts seeking to leverage AI in their work.

A personal story behind the book can be summarized in the journey over the past year of integrating AI into Kou?ing centar 's L&D offer. This journey has been transformative, both professionally and personally. Working with and on AI taught me invaluable lessons about the intersection of AI and human skills development, and it’s these insights that are shared in the book.

The book is scheduled for publication with Taylor & Francis Group for January 2025.

This book is coming as the second in the row in terms of my collaboration with Taylor & Francis Group as a publisher. As a reminder, in 2020 I authored a book Coaching Psychology: Constructivist Approaches.

Please feel free to share any feedback or comments, as they are invaluable at this stage of putting the book into life. And help us increase the reach of our newsletter by sharing it to your colleagues if you find its content valuable.

Enjoy your summer reads, whatever the topic (and share back your book recommendations for this summer)!.