The future with AI and automated digital coaching assistants

A series of articles about 15 trends that will re-define the future of leadership coaching.

Trend 1: Rise of the automated coach

A remote coach is as useful and powerful as a coach that you meet with face to face. However, it’s not always convenient, and due to the lack of geographic limitations, coaches are spending more time meeting with their clients online and via video calls. It never reduces or diminishes the effectiveness of coaching.

Coaches will engage clients through micro-learning sessions, gamification and will add value by providing clients access to content beyond their counsel, says Brad Federman, member of the Forbes Coaches Council.

Coaching with Artifical Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence or AI is the new her in the town, and now it can also be used as an online coach. It can just work as a traditional coach who can help you get clear about what you want, set clear, compelling goals, develop action plans to get it, support you in taking action and hold you accountable.

With the popularity of smartphones, mobile apps become a tool to solve everything and you will be able to find a mobile app for everything. Supporting productivity and self-improvement services also become increasingly popular. Speech-based tools such as Alexa and Siri are also inspiring developers to use AI for mobile apps. These virtual coach apps also using AI to make these apps more lifelike. AI will turn your device into a lifelike coach who will interact with you and function as a kind of a personal and virtual psychotherapist.

Motivational and Inspirational Apps

With the massive globalization and industrialization, people become more alone. So the self-improvement industry is growing fast, but there is no actual data. It’s undoubtedly booming because of the traditional mental health counselors are expected to increase by 36% by 2020.
The demand for psychotherapy & self-development coaching is growing, and digital services are taking place in the market. For example, there is a mobile app named “Mindbloom” where social users can motivate each other to improve their behavior. This social gaming platform also enables users to help each other to reach their life goals and generally be more successful in life. Using Mindbloom, you can send inspirational messages, track and compare the progress and also congratulate others for their achievement. These achievements can be a new job or a new relationship. According to Chris Hewett, founder of Mindbloom, social support can improve one’s life, and it’s also the most effective way. Social game Mindbloom is designed to make social interaction more fun. SO we can consider Mindbloom as a life coaching service.

Develop social skills with AI

Due to the growing trend of social media, researchers are also encouraged to develop therapy programs for smartphones. These mobile apps help users deal with anxiety and depression. Apps are now being designed to help users build their lifestyle. Example of such an app is Sosh which is intended to help children and adults to develop their social skills. This app is specially designed for individuals who have Asperger’s Syndrome. Exercises featured on this app can help users manage behavior patterns, understand their feelings and easily connect with others.

Nutrition coaching with AI

Based on studies, it’s quite clear that virtual coaches are very useful for users. Centre for Connected Health has recently studied individuals with excessive weight. Those who participated in the programme using a virtual coach loss weight significantly than those who just tried it without any virtual assistance. Virtual assistance helps them maintain their exercise regime over the course of time. Those who used the virtual coach followed the guideline and also felt guilty when they missed an online appointment. Study co-author Timothy Bickmore, an associate professor in the College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University said that virtual coaches played an essential role in health and wellness. He also believes that with the ever-growing aging baby boomers and the shortage of professionals, virtual coaches can be the solutions to motivate people to stay fit and healthy.
Virtual coach systems are still in the early stage, and Google has already shown how advance can an AI be. They showed AI that is interacting with people live and using common people words. So it’s not too far when we will see Artificial Intelligence is working beyond the general voice commands. AI can also be developed to sense the emotion of the user & it will help apps detect users’ emotion and interact with them based on their mood. It’s not far that one day our smart devices with help and interacts to get a better life. It will help us dead the ups and downs of our lives and prepare us for what is essential for us, what is our passions, dreams, and purpose.

Psychotherapy coaching with AI

Studies showed that even with simplistic AI can effectively work as a psychotherapy coach. One such study is conducted by MIT way back in 1960 by a chatbot named ELIZA. ELIZA had a simple interface and only interact based on a specific keyword or phrase by some predetermined output. Still, it became successful, and the user became emotionally involved with the computer programme. Some even thought the computer programme a real therapist and used to spend hours with the chatbot. If an AI can achieve that kind of quality and understand a user and can interact, it will be useful in different applications.

Leadership coaching with AI

For the leaders of the 21st century, many challenges come along and an agile mindset is a priority. Many success books as High Performance Habits — How Extraordinary People Become That Way by Brandon Burchard describe the approaches taken by success people. Brandon Burchard method describes a regular morning priming with the determination of daily goals as well as an evening reflection on them. And this while improving 6 habit categories leading to a better self.

Rocky.ai the leadership coach in the pocket is helping to implement these habits by utilizing the approaches mentioned above with a chatbot preparing you for a day with identifying daily priorities and giving you bits of advice for working on your main commitment. Combined with an evening reflection chat about your day, you also receive an automated journal which helps you to visualize your progress and have access to tips and further knowledge.

It’s also important that if our smart devices become smarter and start interacting with us as a virtual coach, it will be a tool to sculpt our behavior and identity actively. The emotional attachment to the technology will also increase dramatically, and our relationship with the system will be stronger. Already the Nomophobia, a syndrome of fear of being separated from the phone is rising rapidly. If a smartphone becomes alive with smart AI and starts interacting with your lifestyle, the consequences might be severe. These “living” technology will become our friend, companion, guide, and everything.

Whatever the consequences, AI-based virtual assistance will be the next technology advancement, and it’s already started. The question is, how smart these AI will be and how safe our data will be in the future.

This article was originally posted at TheStartup