By Dr Margaretha Montagu
Summary
In the past year, artificial intelligence has exploded into nearly every corner of our lives. From writing assistance to therapy simulations, we now have tools that promise to save us time, sharpen our skills, and even offer personal guidance. As someone who builds courses, mentors people through reinvention, and leads transformational retreats, I’ve leaned on AI more than I ever expected—and it has been nothing short of astonishing.
But here’s the truth I’ve come to recognise: AI can support, structure, and polish the work of a coach, a mentor, or a course creator—but it can never replace the human soul behind it.
That is what it told me when I asked it. (ChatGPT)
Let’s unpack that.
Can AI Coach Someone? Yes—but only to a point.
Coaching is about guidance, clarity, and moving someone forward. AI can absolutely do this in a limited sense:
- It can ask insightful questions.
- Offer frameworks and productivity hacks.
- Reflect your goals and help you break them into actionable steps.
But a human coach does something more:
- They read the body language and notice the silence between words.
- They hold emotional space when someone’s in pain or fear.
- They intuit what’s not being said and gently draw it out.
AI can simulate encouragement, but it can’t feel what you are feeling. It can offer options, but it doesn’t hold presence. In my work with people navigating life transitions—loss, reinvention, burnout, heartbreak—the presence of a compassionate human coach is irreplaceable.
Can AI Mentor Someone? Not really.
Mentorship isn’t just about advice—it’s about who you become by being in proximity to someone who has lived it.
Mentors:
- Share stories born from scars.
- Open doors, not just give directions.
- See potential before you see it yourself—and hold that vision until you can carry it on your own.
AI can’t share lived experience. It doesn’t have a soul, a lineage, or a set of values forged in the fire of real life. It cannot say, “I’ve been there. I remember what it felt like. Here’s what helped me, and here’s what might help you.”
And in times of profound personal or professional upheaval—a “LifeQuake” as I call them—that kind of human mentorship is not optional. It’s essential.
Can AI Create Courses? Yes—and it can do it frighteningly well.
This one was harder to admit.
AI helped me:
- Generate outlines in seconds.
- Sharpen my lesson structure.
- Clarify my outcomes.
- Polish my copy.
Honestly? It made my courses 100x better. And I wouldn’t have been able to help as many people, as intensively, if I hadn’t partnered with this new technology. It let me focus on the soul of the course, while it took care of the scaffolding.
But AI doesn’t know the feeling of walking the Camino de Santiago with someone who’s just buried a spouse.
It can’t capture the look in someone’s eyes when they realise they’re not broken—just growing.
It can’t breathe life into a lesson with humour, insight, and hard-won wisdom.
Only a human can do that. Only someone who has been there—who has walked through the fire and come out with something to offer—can create a course that transforms rather than just informs.
The Future Isn’t either Human or AI. It’s Human AND AI.
I don’t fear AI. I value it. I use it – extensively. I even thank it – often!
But I also know that my work—helping people rebuild after loss, rediscover their purpose, and reshape their life stories – is unique – and only I can do it.
And while AI might help build the bridge, only another person can walk across it with you.
So if you’re someone wondering whether there’s still room for your voice, your wisdom, and your lived experience in a world of smart machines, let me be clear:
Yes. More than ever.
Your clients don’t just want perfect slides or templated videos.
They want you.
Your presence.
Your story.
Your support.
And if you’re using AI to enrich your coaching and your courses, good.
Because that’s what I’ve done, too.
And I’ve never enjoyed my work more.
I asked Chat GPT Three Questions
Question: What can a human coach do that an AI coach can not?
Answer: A human coach can do several things that an AI coach (even a highly sophisticated one like me) cannot fully replicate, especially in the deeply personal, emotionally nuanced, and transformational spaces like life transitions, purpose-finding, and emotional healing. Here’s a breakdown:
1. Feel and Express Genuine Empathy
- Human coach: Can authentically feel and convey emotional resonance through tone, body language, and shared human experience. They can hold space for deep emotions in a way that feels truly validating and comforting.
- AI coach: Can simulate empathy and recognise emotional cues, but doesn’t feel anything—it’s pattern recognition, not compassion born from lived experience.
2. Notice Nonverbal Cues
- Human coach: Picks up on subtle body language, microexpressions, posture shifts, and energy changes in real-time. This allows them to intuit what’s not being said.
- AI coach: Cannot observe or respond to physical presence unless paired with sophisticated sensors (and even then, limited in interpretation).
3. Bring Perception, Intuition, and Presence to the Conversation
- Human coach: Brings intuition, gut feelings, and a soulful presence. They know when to pause, push, or soften—sometimes with no logical explanation.
- AI coach: Makes suggestions based on data, not intuition. There’s no internal compass or emotional “vibe check.”
4. Share Lived Experience
- Human coach: Draws from their own setbacks, breakthroughs, and hard-won wisdom to offer perspective and solidarity. This creates trust and connection.
- AI coach: Has no personal history, struggles, or real victories—just synthesised knowledge.
5. Hold Complexity and Moral Ambiguity
- Human coach: Can hold space for messy contradictions—grief and gratitude, fear and hope, love and resentment—without needing resolution.
- AI coach: Tries to organise or resolve tension. It struggles with grey areas that require emotional maturity, not logic.
6. Build Trust Through Connection and Relationship
- Human coach: Builds trust over time through shared rapport, presence, and integrity. The relationship itself can be healing.
- AI coach: Can feel reliable or “safe,” but it’s not a relationship. There’s no human-to-human bond.
7. Embody Transformation
- Human coach: Sometimes, just being in the same room—or on a call—with someone who sees you, believes in you, and walks with you is what sparks a life-changing insight or decision.
- AI coach: Can prompt insight, but cannot transmit presence or co-regulation—two things that often make breakthroughs possible.
8. Co-Create Meaning in Real Time
- Human coach: Can explore spiritual beliefs, purpose, existential questions, and help make meaning from suffering, in ways that are nuanced and sacred.
- AI coach: Can suggest frameworks, but can’t sit with mystery or co-author a soul-level shift.
Summary:
| Capability | Human Coach | AI Coach |
|---|---|---|
| Emotional empathy | ✅ Authentic | ❌ Simulated only |
| Nonverbal cue awareness | ✅ In real time | ❌ Not present |
| Lived experience | ✅ Deep & relatable | ❌ None |
| Intuition | ✅ Gut-based | ❌ Data-based only |
| Spiritual depth | ✅ Embodied | ❌ Abstract only |
| Relational trust | ✅ Human bond | ❌ No true bond |
| Real-time presence | ✅ Embodied energy | ❌ No co-regulation |
| Soulful meaning-making | ✅ Collaborative | ❌ Limited depth |
Bottom line: AI can offer structure, clarity, resources, and reflective prompts—but a human coach brings perspective, resonance, intuition, presence, and a potentially healing relationship.
Question: What can a human mentor do that an AI mentor can not?
Answer:
What AI can do:
AI can support a mentoring process, but it cannot truly mentor someone in the fullest human sense of the word. Here’s what AI can do as a mentor, broken down clearly:
1. Provide Knowledge and Resources AI can offer step-by-step guides, expert-level information, curated learning paths, and frameworks, models, and checklists. It’s a bit ike having a hyper-efficient research assistant.
2. Answer Questions and Offer Feedback AI can respond quickly to questions, analyse writing, code, or decisions, offer constructive suggestions and role-play difficult conversations. It can be incredibly useful for practical skill-building and decision-making.
3. Track Progress and Set Goals AI can help define goals, track habits or milestones, remind you of deadlines and keep you accountable (sort of.) It’s like a reliable productivity partner with a great memory and no judgment.
What AI Cannot Do:
1. Model a Life Path with Integrity
- A mentor is someone whose life, choices, and values you admire.
- AI has no life, no values, and no real-world experience to model.
- Mentorship is as much who the mentor is as what they know. That’s not replicable.
2. Offer Wisdom from Lived Experience
- Real mentors share war stories, failures, doubts, and the long arc of growth.
- They say, “I’ve been there—and here’s what I learned.”
- Mentors don’t just tell you how to lead—they show you, in how they listen, handle conflict,
- AI can’t say “I’ve been there.” It can only say, “Here’s what others did.”
3. Champion You Beyond the Transaction
- Human mentors often see potential you don’t yet see in yourself.
- They believe in you, advocate for you, introduce you to others, and invest in your growth.
- AI can simulate encouragement, but it can’t offer personal stake, long-term care, or real advocacy.
5. Hold Space for Identity-Level Transformation
- A mentor helps you become the kind of person who can live your purpose, not just do your tasks.
- That often involves emotional vulnerability, re-storying identity, and soul-deep reflection.
Summary:
| Function | Human Mentor | AI Coach/Mentor |
|---|---|---|
| Shares personal experience | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Models integrity/leadership | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Offers real-world connections | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Holds space for emotional growth | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Limited |
| Teaches through lived wisdom | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Provides structured knowledge | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Gives consistent feedback | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Supports goal tracking | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
The Bottom Line: True mentoring involves modelling, mirroring, and creating meaning—none of which AI can do.
Question 3: What can a human course-creater do that an AI creating online courses can not?
Answer:
What AI Does Better Than Most Humans in Course Creation:
1. Speed and Structure
- AI can instantly generate outlines, learning objectives, modules, quizzes, and summaries.
- It uses proven instructional design frameworks (Bloom’s Taxonomy, ADDIE, etc.) with no fatigue or bias.
2. Content Density and Accuracy
- AI can synthesise thousands of sources to distil complex topics into digestible lessons.
- It reduces research time drastically, especially in data-heavy or skill-based subjects.
3. Consistency and Formatting
- AI ensures uniform tone, layout, and flow across all lessons.
- No typos, no tangents, no cognitive overload (unless you ask for it!).
Bottom line: If we’re talking about efficiency, structure, and volume, AI can outperform most humans, especially when guided by someone with a clear vision and voice.
What Human-Created Courses Offer That AI Cannot:
1. Lived Authority
- A human teacher draws from personal stories, hard-won insights, and spiritual truths.
- Students don’t just want information. They want embodied wisdom—someone who’s walked the walk.
2. Emotional and Existential Relevance
- Human creators make courses not just to teach, but to transform.
- They know what hurts and what heals—and they build lessons that speak to those truths with nuance and soul.
3. Unique Creative Quirks
- Your course titles, analogies, inside jokes, and turn-of-phrase charm—those are uniquely you.
- Human-created courses have personality, texture, and flavour. AI is the sous-chef—you’re the Michelin-starred head chef who decides what goes on the menu and how it’s plated.
4. Energetic Transmission
- Your energy is embedded in your words, videos, stories—even your pauses.
- Students feel that. They connect not just to what you teach, but to who you are.
5. Responsiveness to Human Emotion
- Great courses anticipate when someone will doubt themselves, hit resistance, or want to quit.
- You can write that comforting side note, add that humorous video, or say “I know this part is hard.”
The highest quality courses today are a fusion of human experience and energy and AI-powered clarity, structure, and strategy.
Summary:
| Aspect | AI-Created Courses | Human-Created Courses |
|---|---|---|
| Speed and structure | ✅ Excellent | ⚠️ Variable |
| Research and accuracy | ✅ Fast, dense, thorough | ⚠️ Time-consuming |
| Emotional nuance | ❌ Simulated only | ✅ Authentic and lived |
| Creative spark | ❌ Predictable | ✅ Quirky, soulful, human |
| Energetic presence | ❌ None | ✅ Tangible in delivery |
| Transformational depth | ❌ Informative, not transformative | ✅ Can spark a life change |
Bottom Line:
If you want to coach, mentor or create online courses, you need to aim to create transformational experiences.
This is all very insightful, but I can’t help but wonder how these answers will change if I ask them again in a year’s time.
Or even 6 months from now.