Physical education of everyday life: a mental AI coach motivates not to give up morning jogging

Russia has created an unusual AI assistant for running, which does not count kilometers and does not make training plans. Instead, it helps keep you motivated. The university's development conducts a dialogue with the user before and after jogging, turning artificial intelligence into a personal "mental coach" for amateur athletes. The AI assistant adapts individually to each person, learns their characteristics, and selects suitable words and support options for motivation. According to psychologists, such an assistant may know more about a person than a coach or a sports team, which makes the interaction more personalized. At the same time, experts emphasize that in case of serious problems with motivation or mental and physical health, such a tool cannot replace the help of a doctor or a psychotherapist. Read more about how algorithms help instill a love of sports in the Izvestia article.

AI assistant for athletes

Students of Sechenov University have developed a program for amateur athletes, named "Nika" in honor of the ancient Greek goddess. This is an AI interlocutor that motivates runners not to give up classes. The startup was born on a joint campus of the university and School 21.

The system is based on an original large language model. First, the app gets to know the user, learns about their habits and motivation, and then begins a dialogue. By chatting, the algorithm helps the user find the moral strength to go for a run, and stays in touch during training. "Nika" writes to the user herself, motivating him not to postpone the lesson. The app also has an analytics section and a journal that help you organize your workouts and achieve your goals.

— We got the task to create a mental support service, and my friend came up with the idea to create an assistant for amateur athletes. I immediately supported this idea, because I also play sports and I know perfectly well that sometimes, in order to continue training, additional motivation is very necessary," said Ali Bnayat, a third—year student of Materials Science and Technology at the Advanced Engineering School of Sechenov University.

Photo: Sechenov University Press Service

Before starting the development, the students analyzed the existing solutions on the market and trained the AI assistant "Nick" on the data of real running enthusiasts. According to the developers, they found that there are similar projects abroad, but none of them has yet become a full-fledged assistant, while in Russia this niche remains vacant.

— Before the launch, we conducted a series of CustDev interviews with representatives of the target audience. We asked beta test participants to use the system for several weeks, after which we conducted surveys to understand the main thing: does Nika help solve the problems faced by running enthusiasts. This was necessary to determine the future direction of the project," said Ali Bnayat.

Currently, more than 250 athletes are using the application in test mode. The developers plan to continue improving the product, including releasing versions for various platforms.

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Can AI motivate you to play sports

Numerous studies are currently being conducted on the use of algorithms to improve the effectiveness of sports, Anna Bazanova, a crisis psychologist, ORKT practitioner and circuit therapist, told Izvestia. According to her, the results of one of them, published in 2026, showed that training using an AI assistant promotes the development of mindfulness and increases openness to new experiences.

— The AI assistant adapts individually to each person, learns their characteristics, selects words suitable for motivation, support options, and can know more about a person than a team or coach. This helps to create a unique interaction option: software that supports you specifically, which records the progress, time and intensity of the workout," the specialist noted.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Polina Violet

The idea of the project is really interesting, the leading expert of the SportNet working group agreed NTI Ekaterina Yuldasheva. While most applications motivate users through training plans, ratings, and achievement systems, the developed model is able to create the effect of a personal trainer's presence and provide more individual psychological support.

— Similar methods have already proven themselves well in educational applications. In relation to sports, integration into the existing ecosystem for training is most likely advisable. In this configuration, a motivating assistant can be most effective," she said.

However, as emphasized by clinical psychologist and psychotherapist Jan Levitsky, it is necessary to take into account that high-performance sports are always associated with increased stress loads that affect not only the cerebral cortex, but also the limbic system responsible for emotional regulation. According to him, in situations of severe emotional turmoil, only another person, a loved one, a coach or a psychologist, can provide full—fledged support and co-regulation of the nervous system.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Korotaev

— It is too early to rely on AI as a language model for real psychological help. Modern research shows that chatbots demonstrate serious limitations when dealing with complex clinical cases, can give unnecessarily pessimistic forecasts, and even violate ethical standards of psychological care. They should be considered as an additional tool, not as a substitute for human involvement. So far, such technology looks like a valuable assistant for support and control of discipline, but not as a therapist," the expert noted.

Such an AI assistant will not replace either a coach or a doctor, but it can really help those who constantly lose their distance precisely because of a lack of internal support, and not because they do not have a program, said Leonid Drobyshevich, NTI technology expert.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Lantyukhov

— There are a lot of trackers around running now that reduce everything to numbers: mileage, time, speed. And there are mental services that help with mood, but they are almost not focused on sports. "Nika" closes this gap: she does not build a program, but talks to a person, helps to organize herself, support during a run and not delay. This is closer to the interlocutor-friend format, rather than a dry training diary," he noted.

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According to experts, mental AI assistants are a promising direction, especially if running is perceived not as a way to achieve athletic results, but as an element of caring for one's own health and well-being. At the same time, the success of such services will depend on how much communication with the virtual assistant turns out to be really useful for the user, and does not turn into another application that only has to be opened to fill out a training report.