AI, Coaching Communities, and the Future of Coaching Access
Genevieve Feliú, PhD, the futurist at the ICF Thought Leadership Institute, joins ICF Director of AI, Susan Caesar, to reflect on the future of coaching in an AI-enabled world in their fireside chat, “The Rise of Coaching Communities: What Coaches Need to Know About AI.”
From a futures perspective, Genevieve points to several emerging signals that may shape this future — the growing value of human presence, the role of coaching in shaping ethical technology, and the rise of coaching communities that support collective wisdom.
Three Insights Shaping the Future of Coaching:
Insight 1. Human-centered AI will not replace coaching jobs.
Early perspectives suggested AI adoption would spread rapidly across industries — and it has. Yet the human response to technological acceleration reveals an important countertrend.
“Technology is helpful and does a lot of things for us. What it does not do is feed our need for emotion, identity, value, relationships with others, or the understanding of where we want to go and how we can get there.” -Genevieve Feliú, PhD
As digital technologies are embedded in everyday life, more people seek technology-free experiences that reconnect them with others and the natural world. Genevieve explains: The more AI we see, the greater the hunger for presence and human connection becomes. AI has not replaced people. In fact, we are seeing early signs of a movement toward nature and a desire for a more analog, unplugged lifestyle.
From a futures perspective, this shift offers an early signal of what people value in a more digital world — human connection. For this reason, Genevieve observes, AI is unlikely to replace all coaches, but it will reshape how coaches contribute to human development.
Insight 2. Coaches can utilize technology ethically to preserve the best parts of humanity.
Technology is becoming a larger presence in daily life, raising a question that will define our future: Who determines the values and ethical frameworks guiding generative AI?
“My hope for the future is that we move toward a care-centered space, where ethics is not determined by technology or the technologists who create it, but by the communities for whom it serves.” -Genevieve Feliú, PhD
Genevieve reflects that technological change is accelerating — no one can stop the AI train. Yet the ethical frameworks needed to guide its use are not developing at the same pace.
The gap between technological advances and ethical frameworks creates an opportunity for coaching. Coaches can step forward as people-centered leaders, working within communities to ensure that technological progress reflects shared human values.
Insight 3. Coaching Communities of Practice are becoming the next horizon.
As AI automates routine tasks and accelerates the pace of work, many professionals are left to navigate more complex decisions and rapidly changing environments. In complex systems, insight rarely comes from a single expert.
“Coaching as a practice is 30 years old. We may be moving to a place where the individual coach may not have all the right answers. Communities of practice harness the true power of collective wisdom.” -Genevieve Feliú, PhD
Coaching communities of practice distribute the work of navigating complexity across multiple perspectives. From a futures standpoint, coaching communities that create collective intelligence may represent an important next phase in the profession’s evolution — one where coaches gather to reflect, learn, and practice collective sensemaking.
Concluding Reflection: Slowing down is a future skillset.
“We are finding ourselves approaching a tipping point. No longer can we run any faster and be healthy and well in our lived experiences.” -Genevieve Feliú, PhD
As Genevieve concludes the fireside chat, she reflects on one essential capability that coaching can help people cultivate amid technological acceleration: the ability to slow down. As technology continues to reshape how we work and live, reflection and presence become essential life skills.
“When facing the accelerated pace and depth of technology today, the most important question may be: What do we do to begin to lift presence over pace? Coaching has the toolset to help others arrive here.”
This is where coaching intersects with a futures mindset — one that anticipates what may come next while also asking how humans will continue to find meaning, connection, and reflection in an AI-enabled world. Futures-informed coaching helps individuals and communities pause, make sense of complexity, and act with intention rather than simply reacting to an incredible pace of change.
Learn More:
- Read the ICF Coaching Futures Report 2026
- Read Five Insights with Magda to learn about futures thinking as a leadership skill
