AI & technology for coaches
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology · 28 January 2026 · Free to read
AI Adoption Research
DSIT’s survey of 3,500 UK businesses finds AI use is still modest: 16% are using at least one AI technology, and 80% have no current plans to adopt it.
A lot of AI commentary assumes widespread adoption. This government research, based on 3,500 interviews between February and May 2025, shows a more ordinary picture.
Around one in six businesses (16%) were using at least one AI technology. A further 5% planned to adopt it. 80% were neither using it nor planning to. Among those using AI, natural language processing and text generation were the most common uses, at 85% of adopters.
We picked it because coaches work with the organisations that exist, not the ones in keynote slides. The gap between hype and practice is itself a business fact.
If most UK businesses are not using AI yet, ‘help my leaders with AI’ is not automatically a booming coaching offer. Some clients will want that. Many will still be deciding whether AI is relevant at all.
Where AI is used, the report points to efficiency, content and administration more than to wholesale transformation. That may be closer to how an independent coach can use it too.
It is also a reminder not to over-claim. If a client’s organisation is in the 80%, arriving with a lecture about the AI-native workplace may miss the actual problem.
This is an external source. Four Corners Coaching did not produce the original report.
AI & technology for coaches · Free to read
OECD · 5 November 2025
An OECD survey of more than 5,000 SMEs across seven countries, including the UK, finds generative AI in use in 31% of SMEs, with marketing and sales the most common application.
Why we picked it. It is one of the clearer pictures of how small businesses actually use generative AI — and marketing and sales come first.
AI & technology for coaches · Free to read
Henley Business School · 7 May 2025
Henley’s World of Work Institute surveyed 4,640 full-time UK workers and found 56% optimistic about AI and 61% overwhelmed by the pace of change.
Why we picked it. Workforce unease, not just technology, may be the coaching problem organisations actually have.