Apr 9, 2025

Log in BetterUp launched BetterUp Grow to provide real-time coaching support for employees. Its VP of AI said the tech had made coaching more accessible and boosted employee confidence. This article is part of " CXO AI Playbook " — straight talk from business leaders on how they're testing and using AI. For "CXO AI Playbook," Business Insider takes a look at mini case studies about AI adoption across industries, company sizes, and technology DNA. We've asked each of the featured companies to tell us about the problems they're trying to solve with AI, who's making these decisions internally, and their vision for using AI in the future. Founded in 2013, BetterUp is a virtual-coaching company headquartered in Austin. The company's products and services include one-on-one coaching, group sessions, and AI-powered tools to boost personal and professional growth. It has roughly 500 employees around the world. Situation analysis: What problem was the company trying to solve? Many organizations struggle to make high-quality professional development widely accessible to employees. Traditional coaching models tend to be expensive and are often reserved for senior executives or a small group of workers. This leaves many employees without a structured way to build new skills or take on career challenges. At the same time, the rise of hybrid and remote work means that people need virtual professional development to fit into their daily routines. Jordan Hochenbaum, BetterUp's vice president of artificial intelligence, said the company saw an opportunity to solve both problems with AI. With this in mind, it launched BetterUp Grow, an AI coach that can offer real-time support for employees. "One of the advantages of AI coaching is that it's always available and can be integrated directly into the flow of work," he said. "Sometimes, coaching involves planning and preparing for a tough conversation," he added. "But other times, situations arise and people need real-time support." Jordan Hochenbaum is the vice president of AI at BetterUp. Courtesy of BetterUp Key staff and partners The BetterUp Grow initiative was a collaboration across multiple teams, bringing together AI engineers , behavioral scientists, product designers, marketers, and executive leadership. The company's research and product teams analyzed data from millions of BetterUp's past coaching sessions to refine their AI models. And human career coaches helped guide the process, making sure the AI recommendations reflected best practices in behavioral science. AI in action After six months of testing, BetterUp launched BetterUp Grow, blending machine learning, behavioral science, and human coaching to deliver real-time support for employees. Unilever was among the first to test the product before its official release. The platform uses a proprietary dataset to offer customized advice and recommendations. "It's much more than just a ChatGPT wrapper," Hochenbaum said. "Think of it as a personalized AI agent for each person, taking into account everything we know about you — your role, your tenure, your learning style, along with your company's values and priorities — and combining it to give you guidance that fits." The AI system continuously learns from employee interactions, adjusting its recommendations based on preferences, past behaviors, and the context of the situation. Hochenbaum said employees could use AI coaching to role-play difficult conversations , brainstorm solutions, and stay on track with their goals. On the organizational side, the system helps gather what Hochenbaum calls "talent intelligence." Through aggregated and anonymized data, BetterUp creates a dashboard where organizations can tailor their development programs based on their work culture and objectives. "It gives them insights into the specific issues different groups are facing," he said, adding that the technology can show how a variety of positions are facing different types of challenges. For example, first-time managers might encounter low employee engagement or decision-making fatigue, while human resources professionals could face limited resources. "There are a lot of powerful insights here that can help companies shape their talent strategies and deepen their understanding of their people," Hochenbaum said. BetterUp Grow is BetterUp's chatbot designed to deliver customized coaching to employees. Courtesy of BetterUp Did it work, and how did leaders know? Since its introduction in January, 11 companies have used BetterUp's AI coaching product, with another 50 businesses planning to use the product soon. Hochenbaum said early results showed strong adoption and positive outcomes. In BetterUp's survey of the companies' employees who were using AI Coach, 16% of respondents reported increased confidence at work, while 95% expressed satisfaction with the experience. A key feature of BetterUp's BetterUp Grow is its ability to bring in human coaches when needed. In BetterUp's survey, 34% of employees said they preferred human coaches, 15% favored AI, and 51% said they were open to a mix. The system adapts by transitioning employees to human coaching when more in-depth support is required. What's next? Hochenbaum said BetterUp was expanding the product's specialized capabilities, including tools for practicing decision-making in simulated scenarios. The AI agent is also gaining the ability to navigate an increasing number of apps. "Think intelligent support that proactively appears exactly when needed within Teams, Slack, and several other platforms," he said. The company also plans to expand the AI program's language capabilities in the coming months to Spanish, simplified Chinese, and Portuguese. Hochenbaum said the tool would also be offered later this year in Russian, French, German, and Japanese.