Know where you stand, and what to build next

Draft. A first draft, not yet reviewed. The framework, the questions and the wording are still being worked on.

Most guidance about AI is written for an organisation, or framed as a duty. Very little helps a single person answer a plainer question: where do I actually stand with these tools?

It works the same for a business owner, a public servant and a lawyer, because the underlying capability is the same one. It places you on the journey from orienting (getting your bearings) to fluent: using these tools well, and knowing when not to.

This is not a test, and you are not scoring yourself. The questions are the real ones that come up the moment you use these tools: what is safe to put in, when to trust what comes back, who carries the responsibility if it is wrong. It simply shows how you respond to them, and what is worth building next. There is no grade, no badge, and no certificate.

Progress with AI is uneven, so you may be well along on one part and just starting on another. Where you have not done enough to be placed, it says so rather than guessing.

Find where you stand

Ten questions, about five minutes. Nothing is stored.

The journey

Four stages, from getting your bearings to genuine fluency. The top is sound judgment at speed — including the judgment of when not to reach for a tool at all — not virtuosity with the tool itself.

1. Orienting
Getting your bearings. You know this matters; you are not yet using it deliberately, and cannot yet say why it fails.
2. Practising
Using AI on real but low-stakes work, with growing confidence and the first habits of caution. Still learning when not to use it.
3. Capable
Using AI deliberately and selectively across regular work. Verifying as a matter of course, and making sound calls about when to reach for it.
4. Fluent
Sound judgment at speed — including the judgment of when not to use it at all. You take full responsibility for the result, and could help a colleague find their footing. Not tool-virtuosity.

The five dimensions

You are placed separately on each. Two of them — judgment and responsibility — carry the most weight, because they are where most people are most exposed.

Understanding: What these tools are, what they can and cannot do, and why they sometimes produce confident nonsense.
Working with AI: Choosing the right task to hand over, and directing the tool well — what to delegate and what to keep.
Judgment and verification: Telling good output from bad, checking what matters, and keeping your own thinking rather than anchoring on the machine.
Responsibility: Confidentiality, privacy, the cross-border rule, the duties you cannot delegate to a tool, and owning the result.
Keeping current: Staying oriented as the technology and the rules move. A maintained state, never "done".

See the full framework — every level, on every dimension

Whakamārama — understanding AI

How these tools actually work, where they fail, and where they help — the next step once you know where you stand.

Whakatere — using AI safely

What is safe to put into which tool, on which plan — sourced, dated and tool by tool.

The journey

1. Orienting

Getting your bearings. You know this matters; you are not yet using it deliberately, and cannot yet say why it fails.

2. Practising

Using AI on real but low-stakes work, with growing confidence and the first habits of caution. Still learning when not to use it.

3. Capable

Using AI deliberately and selectively across regular work. Verifying as a matter of course, and making sound calls about when to reach for it.

4. Fluent

Sound judgment at speed — including the judgment of when not to use it at all. You take full responsibility for the result, and could help a colleague find their footing. Not tool-virtuosity.

The five dimensions

You are placed separately on each. Two of them — judgment and responsibility — carry the most weight, because they are where most people are most exposed.

Understanding

What these tools are, what they can and cannot do, and why they sometimes produce confident nonsense.

Working with AI

Choosing the right task to hand over, and directing the tool well — what to delegate and what to keep.

Judgment and verification

Telling good output from bad, checking what matters, and keeping your own thinking rather than anchoring on the machine.

Responsibility

Confidentiality, privacy, the cross-border rule, the duties you cannot delegate to a tool, and owning the result.

Keeping current

Staying oriented as the technology and the rules move. A maintained state, never "done".

See the full framework — every level, on every dimension