Should I Be Afraid of AI? A Story About Collaboration, Not Competition

Inspired by Tiago Forte’s video, “I Replaced My $700/Hour Coach with NotebookLM. Here’s What Happened.”

Photo by Ahtziri Lagarde on Unsplash

The Fear in the Room

It started, as it often does, with a whisper, just loud enough to trigger discomfort.

“Have you seen that new AI tool? One guy said he replaced his $700/hour coach with it.”

On a sunny Tuesday morning, we were in our monthly Zoom meeting. A gathering of executive and leadership coaches, others from corporate consulting, and a few, like me, straddled both. We pride ourselves on presence, deep listening, and transformative questions.

But even in that circle, the mood shifted. Beneath our seasoned experience pulsed a very human emotion.

What if we’re being replaced?

That night, curiosity got the better of me. I queued up the video: “I Replaced My $700/Hour Coach with NotebookLM.” I expected skepticism, maybe even clickbait.

But what I found wasn’t a dismissal of coaching.

It was an invitation to evolve.

Meeting the Machine

NotebookLM is designed to analyze vast amounts of personal data, think 150,000+ words across blog posts, journal entries, year-end reflections, and gratitude lists.

In Tiago’s case, he uploaded over 40 sources. Essentially, years of inner world material.

And what came back?

Eerily accurate insight.

The AI identified personality, linked patterns, noted contradictions in his habits and goals, and even flagged unconscious beliefs, like how avoiding disappointment had paradoxically led to more of it.

I had to see for myself.

I uploaded a handful of my own coaching notes and writing reflections into the NotebookLM.

And then something strange happened.

It pulled out a phrase I’d written four years ago, buried in a Google Doc, and connected it to a pattern I hadn’t consciously acknowledged: my own resistance to slowing down. It wasn’t just surface-level analysis. It was a mirror, held up with radical clarity.

At first, I resisted it.

A part of me, the one that built a career on listening deeply, bristled at this machine seeing so much, so quickly.

But then something shifted.

The Unexpected Ally

Tiago was clear: NotebookLM didn’t replace his coach. It enhanced the coaching process.

Here’s why that matters for us:

Unmatched Contextual Memory

AI can scan 10–15 years of personal reflections in minutes. For coaches, this means beginning a client relationship with deep context already in hand. Instead of spending five sessions uncovering what energizes or derails them, you start with a map.

Data-Driven Reflection, Rooted in Humanity

The AI revealed what brought Tiago joy: meditation, deep reading, and the seasons when those rituals fell away. It reconnected him to what mattered. And not as advice, but through his own words.

This is not a replacement for reflection. It’s a reinforcement.

Radical Objectivity

NotebookLM doesn’t forget. It doesn’t flinch. It doesn’t get emotionally fatigued. It simply notices patterns. Emotional tone. Contradictions. Body mind links. Many of the things we intuit as coaches, it names explicitly.

And yet, as powerful as it is…

It lacks nuance.

It can point out the tension. But it can’t hold space for it.

It can name the emotion. But it can’t sit with the silence that follows.

It can show you what’s broken. But it can’t say the words that heal:

“I see you. You’re not alone in this.”

The Real Lesson: We’re Not Being Replaced

Coaches, especially those of us rooted in human development, emotional intelligence, and transformation work, aren’t being pushed out.

We’re being invited in to something deeper, more dynamic, and, yes, a little unknown.

This isn’t about becoming tech experts. It’s about becoming integration artists.

Here’s how:

Use AI to accelerate trust

Invite your clients to preload journaling, assessments, and reflections into tools like NotebookLM. Let the AI summarize the terrain. You’ll walk into Session One with years of context ready to go deep.

Outsource the data. Deepen the humanity

Let AI handle pattern recognition and documentation. You focus on what can’t be automated: noticing the shift in energy. Asking the question no spreadsheet ever could.

Model courageous curiosity

By partnering with AI, you model adaptability. You show clients that growth doesn’t come from certainty. It comes from staying open. Even, especially when it’s uncomfortable.

A New Kind of Coaching Partnership

Imagine this:

Your client uploads their reflection archives, personality assessments, and journaling into an AI system before you meet. NotebookLM returns with a digest: emotional patterns, repeated blockers, and personality friction points.

You start your session with that insight as a foundation, not a replacement.

You bring your full presence to the room. You pause. You listen for what’s not said.

And then you ask the one question the AI can’t:

“How does that land in your body right now?”

That’s the moment the real work begins.

You’re Still the Guide

Coaching has never been about information.

It’s always been about transformation.

AI doesn’t threaten that; it prepares the ground for it. It gives us more to work with, more quickly. But it doesn’t replace the sacred, human work of meaning-making, embodiment, and growth.

So yes, let the bots scan the archives.

But don’t forget:

It’s you who sees the flicker in their voice.

It’s you who holds the tension between grief and growth.

It’s you who walks beside them as they rewrite their story.

That’s what makes you irreplaceable.

Want to explore AI enhanced coaching?

Start by uploading your own writing archive into a tool like NotebookLM. See what it surfaces. Bring that insight into your next coaching session, and let the partnership unfold from there.

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Curious how to train your AI without losing your mind?

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