An Exploratory Study on AI-Human Hybrid Coaching

This exploratory literature review aimed to describe publication trends and characteristics of the AI-Human hybrid coaching literature within the search scope, examine the roles of AI and human coaches, identify reported hybrid coaching types, and propose a provisional integrated framework. Through a transparent, staged search-and-selection procedure, literature published in 2022-2026 was searched in Google Scholar, RISS, DBpia, and KISS; of 13,924 records, 29 publications were selected: 25 individual studies charted and inductively categorized (including two a priori-criteria exceptions), and four review articles used only for comparison in the discussion. Within this scope, the field appeared nascent, with 56% of the literature concentrated in 2025-2026. AI roles converged on four patterns (structured task support, constant availability, data-driven analysis, and self-reflection facilitation) and human coach roles on three (emotional support, interpretation and contextualization, and ethical oversight). Hybrid coaching was classified by the nature of the supporting literature into two collaboration types reported in multiple empirical studies and three interpretive reference categories. AI and human coach roles appeared complementary rather than substitutive; hybrid coaching research needs to advance from theoretical proposals to empirical validation. Crossing a decision-authority axis with a human-mediation axis, this study presents a testable, provisional Integrated Hybrid Coaching Model (IHCM).