So you know how to use ChatGPT (or Claude, or Gemini). But you’re sure there’s more you could be doing. Here’s how to build yourself a virtual coach with AI (for free).
Among the many uses of generative AI, there’s one that’s been gaining traction over the last while: turning to AI for personal or professional support.
A study by the Harvard Business Review (possibly behind a paywall; there’s a decent summary here) found that the top six use case categories (“use case” is jargon for things that people use AI for) for AI in 2025 are these:
31% Personal and Professional Support
18% Content Creation and Editing
16% Learning and Education
15% Technical Assistance and Troubleshooting
11% Creativity and Recreation
9% Research, Analysis, and Decision-Making
In 2024, the top specific use case was generating ideas, while in 2025 it was therapy/companionship. The study also says that custom GPTs are a big trend right now – which is probably related to the companionship thing. A custom GPT allows people to make their own AI tools, to meet their specific needs.
First, a health warning
This post takes a deep dive into what a custom AI tool is when it is at home on your phone or PC, and describes a way to make one that can function as a coach.
Before you dive in, please note that I am using that word “coach” very deliberately here! There’s a distinction between a coach and a therapist. As defined in a post from Grand Canyon University, a mental health therapist is a healthcare professional who provides psychotherapy services. Clients meet with their therapists regularly, working to resolve their mental health issues and overcome related challenges. A life coach, on the other hand, is not a healthcare professional and works to empower clients to identify their life goals and make progress toward them.
There’s been a flurry of articles recently with some very worrying stories about people relying on AI tools for companionship or therapy. (See this video: Why people are falling in love with A.I. companions | 60 Minutes Australia and read People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies). I have no desire to encourage any such uses of AI.
I’m saying, very strongly, that an AI coach is a not substitute for psychological or medical support that you might need. I suggest you make a coach for goal-setting around specific areas of your life. For myself, I only make coaches in areas where I know I can assess the “advice” given using my own general knowledge and common sense.
What is a Custom GPT?
To use OpenAI’s own words, these are “custom versions of ChatGPT that combine instructions, extra knowledge, and any combination of skills”. You create one for a specific purpose – perhaps to learn how to do crosswords, or to learn the rules to a board game. You can share your GPT with other people too.
Tip: find Custom ChatGPTs by hitting “Explore GPTs” in the left hand menu of ChatGPT’s PC interface. Make one by hitting Create in the top right hand corner of the resulting screen.
There’s a but: you can only make your own Custom GPT in the paid version of the ChatGPT model.
But there is a wide range of custom GPTs made by other people that you can try out to see how they work. On this page there’s a menu with a variety of GPTs. Categories include writing, productivity and education. I’ve often used the Visionary Business Coach.
How to use them? The same as you’d use ChatGPT itself – put in a prompt, see what answer you get. Keep asking until you get what you need.
How is this different from, or better than, just using the main ChatGPT interface?
The difference is in the way the custom GPT is set up – it is based on a set of “system instructions” which are always in the background, and which guide the AI’s behaviour and responses. So when I am using the Visionary Business Coach, I am getting responses that are tailored to a business environment because that information is in the system instructions.
To take a slightly techie step back – in a coding context, system instructions:
Define the AI’s role: They specify the exact role the AI should play, such as a customer service representative, a subject matter expert, or a virtual assistant. This establishes the expertise level and perspective for all interactions.
Establish the context: They provide a clear understanding of the environment, industry, and typical scenarios the AI will encounter.
Set clear behavioural guidelines: They define the desired tone, style, and limitations for the AI’s responses.
Those rules then remain consistent across multiple user interactions unless deliberately changed.
In a non-coding context, custom tool-builders like Custom GPT need you to create a set of instructions. You can write your own, input them and then interact with a tool that will consistently work according to the parameters you set – and you don’t have to do any coding. Depending on the instructions you give, that tool can act as a coach.
How can you get your own coach without paying for ChatGPT?
Use Google’s Gemini AI tool. Unlike ChatGPT’s version, their custom tool builder is available in the free version. (Claude’s version, called Projects, is also only available in the paid version.)
In Gemini, a custom tool is called a Gem (who comes up with these names?). There’s a link in the left hand menu (you might need to hover over a pale blue panel to get the menu to expand) called “Explore Gems”, and that takes you to a page that has Gems pre-made by Google. I haven’t used any of them – I went straight to building my own.
How to make yourself a Gem – the basics
I was first introduced to this way of doing things by Julie Scotland and Tara Armbruster, in a session in a Generative AI learning circle that I attend. They’re the co-founders of Gravi.ai, which helps marketing teams integrate AI into their operations.
Their step-by-step process was super helpful. They provided us with a Google spreadsheet, but you could do this in any word processor. Think about what it is you need – a career coach? a writing coach? Then define what you want from your coach using a set of categories that are pretty similar to the things you might put in a prompt. Get as detailed as you can!
The categories:
Role – who is this AI to you?
Context – what does it need to know about you and your life?
Tasks – what are you going to ask it for help with?
Criteria – how should it behave?
Examples – what’s worked for you in the past (this can be links, or documents that are related to the matter at hand. When I made a writing coach, I uploaded all the writing and drafts and ideas that relate to the book I want to write).
I’m going to be brave and paste here the set of instructions I used to make myself a walking coach:
Role
An experienced coach who has helped people start their own walking programmes
A coach who has worked with older people
A coach with a medical background who understands the injury risks
Context
I can walk three times a week
I have a sore knee
The walking will happen mostly in my neighbourhood which is flat
Surfaces will be paved or grassed
The aim is to help me be able to hike locally and to do a portion of the Cape Camino in two years’ time
Tasks (see more about these below!)
First, set a small attainable goal
Make a walking programme that will get me to that goal
Build in a way of tracking progress
Hold me accountable
Criteria (this is a standard list that I use in all my coach-making attempts; feel free to steal it)
Be concise, strategic, emotionally intelligent.
Push me, but kindly.
No toxic positivity.
I want honest encouragement and clarity.
Speak like a calm, wise peer — not like a cheerleader or a robot.
Examples
Exercise: Getting Active | University Health Services
How to actually make the Gem?
On this page, click on the big blue button: New Gem.
In the resulting screen, on the left-hand side, give your coach a name, and then paste your instructions (with the categories as headings) into the panel that says “Instructions”.
When you are done, click Save.
You have a coach!
For the record, the first response I had from my coach was really good – it started out like this:
Okay, let’s start with a solid foundation. It’s good that you have clear long-term aims like the Cape Camino – that gives us something to work towards steadily. But big goals are achieved by consistently hitting smaller ones.
Given your situation – particularly the sore knee – our first priority is to build consistency without aggravating anything. We need to establish a routine that feels manageable and lets your body adapt.
Your First Goal:
For the next two weeks, your goal is to complete three walks each week, aiming for 15 minutes per walk, at a comfortable pace where you can still hold a conversation. The most important part of this goal is finishing each walk without making your knee feel worse than when you started.
And if you aren’t happy?
How to edit your Gem
Once I’d made my walking coach, I realised I had made a mistake when I wrote out the tasks. The ones I first thought of are the things I’d want the coach to do on an ongoing basis, rather than the big picture tasks. So, in Gemini’s left-hand menu, I clicked on the three dots next to “Walking coach” and selected Edit. Up came the panel with my instructions. I’ve changed the tasks to read:
Help me make ongoing and adjustable walking programmes, based on feedback I give about how things are going
Help me stay on track and not lose interest
I’m not sure how that change will affect things going forward – but the point is I can adjust the system instructions at any time.
Are you going to make yourself a Gem? Let me know how it goes!
And that’s it for this week. If there’s a question you’d like me to answer, or a topic you’d like covered, contact me here. I can’t promise to answer everything (especially deeply technical questions), but I can generally get us all pointed in the right direction.
Main picture: Nick Morrison, Unsplash
Other things I have written
Renee’s four golden rules of artificial intelligence – So much hype, so much uncertainty, so much information about artificial intelligence. Here are some guiding principles…
How to write a good prompt for AI – A common complaint about AI is that it just doesn’t give good answers. That’s because you are asking questions. Instead, here’s my guide to how to write a good prompt.
Should you be paying for Gen AI? – The internet led us to believe that we could get things for free. But sometimes money needs to change hands. Should you be paying for Gen AI?
The AI tool everybody should be using – NotebookLM – Research assistant and note-taker rolled into one – allow me to introduce you to NotebookLM.
How can I help you make order from chaos?
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