A quarter (26%) of business leaders use generative AI as a mentor on a daily basis, according to research findings published by technology and software providers, The Adaptavist Group.
Nearly a fifth (18%) of early career graduates also use AI tools as a way to seek career advice and guidance, according to research published last Thursday (29 May) by early careers website Prospects by Jisc, for its Prospects Early Careers Survey 2025.
Of the early career graduates surveyed, 84% of respondents found tools including ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot helpful.
The prospect of having instant feedback can be tempting to any busy professional, explained Isobel McWilliams, The Adaptavist Group's head of HR.
Speaking to HR magazine, she said: "I suspect that the use of AI mentors will continue to trend upwards, perhaps driven by the constant and instant availability of 'someone' to bounce ideas off. The difficulty comes in assessing the quality of that feedback, and setting up AI mentors in ways that improves quality and relevance. AI will always be limited by the context it is given. Professionals must approach outputs with some degree of caution.
"HR teams can be instrumental in ensuring the responsible adoption of AI mentorship, setting up the human and technological approaches to facilitate. The nature of work has and will continue to change. It is important to have the ability to recognise and know what the next big thing is going to be. HR teams need to be ahead of all of that. They should also look to bring themselves up to speed in AI at pace, and ensure that they embrace, adopt, and utilise AI in their day-to-day roles.
"Upskilling your HR team on how to train AI on business and other contexts will enable them to pair up junior staff with the right AI 'mentors' for their role, to give instruction on how to utilise several 'mentors' to help get a rounded perspective, and to ensure that there is an appropriate balance between AI and human feedback."
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For young people seeking career advice, AI tools can be highly accessible, responsive and increasingly advance, Kirsten Barnes, platform CEO of graduate careers network Bright Network said.
She told HR magazine: “We see a lot of our members use tools like ChatGPT as a search engine. But it needs to be used and interrogated correctly. When it is, these tools can support students in exploring career paths, writing applications and CVs, and preparing for interviews, but they need a mix of sources to get their information. It’s not only AI. We’re also seeing more students turn to platforms like TikTok and YouTube for career advice. However, the future isn’t about choosing between digital tools and human support, it’s about integrating them thoughtfully into a wider ecosystem of career development.
"Mentoring, coaching and real-world advice remain essential, especially when it comes to building key workplace skills such as resilience, which we know is one of the top traits that employers seek. HR teams have a real opportunity to combine the best of both worlds: scalable, smart digital tools alongside inclusive, human-centred support. Employers should harness the rise of AI while also investing in mentoring and coaching programmes that reflect the diverse needs of today’s graduates. With the right balance, we can build a career support ecosystem that’s both scalable and deeply human.”
A third (32%) of business leaders reported that they had only received mentorship from a person once or twice throughout their career, research by The Adaptavist Group showed.
Findings also revealed that AI had a positive impact on business success: 59% of business leaders reported that AI had improved operations, and 35% said it had helped their business to grow.
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Although AI is an increasingly helpful tool for mentorship and career guidance, especially for young people, it cannot replace human support, added Geneviève Houriet Segard, adjunct director at research centre EDHEC NewGen Talent Centre.
Speaking to HR magazine, she said: “Gen Z already trusts AI as a source of structured, immediate guidance. Applying this same logic to career orientation is a natural progression: if AI can help with what to study, why not also with what job to pursue?
“However, I am convinced that it won’t replace other forms of career guidance. Human mentorship and guidance still play a crucial role, and likely will for years to come. The demand for human interaction may even rise in parallel with AI adoption. Young people are acutely aware of AI’s ethical limitations, raising concerns over bias, misinformation, or the impersonality of machine-generated recommendations.
“Therefore, traditional mentorship – through alumni networks, university career services or workplace mentoring schemes – remains critical. These can offer reassurance, emotional support, and contextual insights that AI cannot replicate."
The Adaptavist Group commissioned consumer research platform Attest to survey 300 UK business leaders in February 2025. Users of Prospects.ac.uk were surveyed between 9 January and 9 February 2025; that report is based on 4,072 responses.
