Welcome to the Second Coaching Revolution

But first, welcome to the May edition of AI in Coaching Newsletter! As we introduced in our inaugural edition , at Kou?ing centar Research Lab, we explore the dynamic intersection of artificial intelligence and coaching. In this edition, we cover:

1. Intro to the Second Coaching Revolution
2. Research Brief on AI coaching capabilities
3. AI News on most recent innovations and what it means for the coaching field
4. Story about what we are building at Kou?ing centar
5. Introducing AI in Coaching Newsletter Companion: A free AI tool we developed exclusively for this newsletter
6. Knowledge sharing corner
7. Recommendations of our favorite AI books, apps and tools
8. AI co-created art showcase.
9. AI behind the scene
10. Closing note.

1. Intro to the Second Coaching Revolution

We don't know when coaching exactly came into existence (anything is possible from Edgar Schein ideas of process consultations back in the 1970s to official establishment of International Coaching Federation in 1995), but we can call that moment revolutionary for coaching. Since then, coaching has significantly developed as a profession (with over 50.000 members of ICF in 2022), a skill as part of many other professions (team leads, teachers, managers, even psychotherapists and many more). I strongly believe coaching has transformed the way we work, learn and develop other people in a significant way. And it will continue to do so. What we are witnessing now with AI developments may be given a status of Second Coaching Revolution. It is not an erasure of coaching delivered by the human intelligence (and heart) as some may think. It is rather a tool that recently became available that may augment human imagination, creativity, learning and development.

2. Research brief: Can AI coach and does it know what it's doing

AI's coaching capabilities It seems we all want to know this (or may have biases towards/against), but what do we actually know from our research study at Kou?ing centar esearch Lab? AI models, on average, performed better than human participants in identifying the best coaching responses, with AI achieving 69% accuracy compared to 57.5% for humans. Top-performing AI models like GPT-4 and Llama 3 showed even higher accuracy rates (75% and 72.5%, respectively). Artificial Metacognition On a more fundamental (and philosophical) note, can AI be trusted for what is doing? Metacognition, or the ability to "think about thinking," is essential for monitoring, regulating, and adapting thought processes. This study shows that AI systems exhibit notable metacognitive abilities, often surpassing humans in self-assessment accuracy in coaching tasks. Understanding AI metacognition is crucial for developing more intuitive, reflective, and adaptable AI systems. It also helps in enhancing human-AI collaboration, through increased reliability, transparency and ethical use.

3. AI News: What it means for coaching

Hello GPT-4o and Welcome to Gemini Era: Implications for Coaching. This month has brought exciting developments from both OpenAI and Google that hold significant implications for the future of coaching. OpenAI showcased GPT-4o , a groundbreaking model designed for real-time reasoning across audio, vision, and text, while Google introduced the Gemini era at I/O 2024 , highlighting their latest multimodal AI innovations. Here's our take on how these developments may contribute to AI applications in coaching.

In our analysis, we notice both GPT-4o an Gemini offer this May significant improvements across features. Both tick the boxes in the table above, with Gemini leading task management and workspace integration, as well as in search and memory and long context processing.

?? Listening to you: Tell us in one word what is your sentiment towards these AI developments. Add your voice .

4. Embracing AI at Kou?ing centar

We believe that AI in general is another cognitive tool humanity has invented. In theory of famous psychologist, Lev Vigotsky , tools have a prominent role as mediators of cognitive development . Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) highlights the difference between what learners can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance. In line with Vygotsky's view of cultural tools in learning, we view AI as a tool that can facilitate and enhance cognitive and metacognitive development in coaching. In coaching, AI can function as a sophisticated tool within this ZPD framework. By offering real-time, personalized feedback and adaptive learning experiences, AI helps bridge the gap between current abilities and potential capabilities.

As part of our own AI transformation, we have embraced a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and collaboration with AI. We are sharing our key company memos related to these developments: AI strategy & AI Culture. We invite participation and collaboration from interested colleagues, startups, tech companies and various other stakeholders. Join us and help building and spreading AI coaching tools for human ZPD!

5. Introducing the "AI in Coaching Newsletter Companion"

To enhance your experience, we present the AI in Coaching newsletter companion . This tool provides real-time answers to your questions related to our newsletter content, and offers additional resources on AI in coaching.

How to Use the "AI in Coaching Newsletter Companion"? Click on the Marketplace Link , type any question related to AI in coaching and receive an immediate response. For example, ask for an AI coaching tool or research data in this field. Start a conversation by typing your question, and the AI will respond immediately.

?? Listening to you: Let us know how you like our AI Newsletter Companion and what other tools would you like us to build and share. Add your voice .

6. Knowledge sharing corner

Here we packed some free learning resources related to AI applications in coaching. In case you missed our Technology in coaching: Webinar , our crew members, Bogdan Doroslovac & Luka Mitrovic , explored the role of technology in coaching and its benefits, challenges related to virtual coaching and ways to overcome them, as well as showcasing useful coaching tools and platforms. Upcoming in early June we invite you to an Intro to Artificial Intelligence in Organizational L&D . In this free webinar we take you to a 90 minutes journey into LLMs, prompt engineering and hands on practice around how L&D professionals can become leaders in their AI strategy.

7. Recommendations of our favorite AI books, apps and tools

• Book recommendation. Ethan Mollick 's book Co-Intelligence: Living and working with AI. We just love it! From an Associate Professor of Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, this books comes out as a true inspiration for coaches, teachers, instructors, mentors across the fields. Here's what other say about the book: “In today’s cacophony of ‘AI hot takes’, Mollick has distinguished himself as the leading voice of reason on the implications of AI for work and education.? Anyone seeking a basis of practical knowledge to understand the coming massive changes should read this insightful book right now."?— Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder of LinkedIn and Inflection AI.?
• Favorite AI tool. Ok, here I will be very biased. We use many different AI tools for collaboration, productivity, inspiration (and we will be sharing these in the upcoming editions of the newsletter). But the tool I recommend as personally most exciting is MidJourney for image generation. If you have tried DALL-E and liked it, well, you'll like this one too. My personal excitement is closest to a statement that all your ideas just get translated into vision with just a tiny prompt /imagine.

?? Listening to you: What resources did you find most useful in this newsletter? Help us add more of that. Add your voice .

8. AI co-created art showcase

We nurture our team's openness to experience, creativity, experimentation, learning by doing, but also merging data analytics with a passion for poetry, abstract art or just gym and barbell. We believe in diversity of human interests, skills and talents and try to ignite that in our team. Here's an AI co-created sonnet for that sake.

There once was an agile coach quite keen,

Who dreamt of a community serene.

With good works and reports,

And knowledge in cohorts,

But memes stole his hours, it would seem!

by 谷歌 Gemini 1.5 pro & Djordje Babic

9. AI behind the scene

Here's a behind the scene look at how we created stuff for this newsletter with AI.

Midjourney prompt for images.

Custom gpt with ChatGPT4o: Prompt .

10. Closing note

We'll keep updating you monthly with our extensive edition of the newsletter and post more digested versions weekly as the field of AI is developing at a pace too quick for monthly check ins! See you next time!