Maturity Level 1 of 6
Aware
Executives understand the potential; experimentation is informal.
Level 1 (Aware) is where every enterprise starts. Executives read the news, ChatGPT is banned or ignored, and pockets of the org quietly experiment.
Framework v2026.1 · Updated · machine-readable spec
What this level looks like in practice
No named owner, no budget line, no measurable use cases. The most valuable move at this level is to move to level 2 — commit budget and name an owner.
Level 1 across all six dimensions
- Strategy & Leadership
No sponsor. No documented strategy.
- Data & Infrastructure
No AI-specific data readiness work. Standard BI-era data platform.
- Use Cases & Applications
No production AI use cases. Some individual experimentation.
- Talent & Culture
Ad-hoc individual learning. Dependence on consultants for anything real.
- Governance & Risk
No AI-specific policy. Blocked or permitted by default per legal counsel.
- Agentic AI
No agents. "Agentic" is a term in decks, not code.
Common blockers to the next level
- No named executive willing to take accountability.
- Waiting for GenAI to "mature" before investing.
- Fear of regulatory blowback with no attempt to characterize the actual risk.
Worked example — Manufacturing
A 5,000-employee manufacturer has 4 engineers using ChatGPT via personal accounts to draft supplier emails. IT has issued a "no confidential data in ChatGPT" reminder. No budget, no named owner, no measurable outcomes.