Where Are You With AI?
A Field Guide to the Three Phases of Maturity
Most people conflate using AI with mastering it. These three phases map what's actually changing your relationship to the work, not the tool. Find yourself honestly, then decide what moving forward actually requires.
Interact
Ask. Read. Decide.
You are the process. The AI responds when spoken to nothing happens without you initiating it. You're using it to draft, summarise, research, or think out loud faster. But you're still the one evaluating every output and making every call.
Every output. AI is a faster draft, not a decision.
You stop evaluating outputs and start designing the workflow that produces them.
Augment
Design. Delegate. Review.
You own the workflow. AI handles the repeatable pattern, you handle anything that requires judgement. You've moved from asking questions to building the system that asks them for you. You know where the handoff points are, and you've designed the exceptions deliberately.
The exceptions. AI handles the pattern; you handle the edge.
You trust the system enough to hand it a goal, not just a task.
Agentic
Set goals. Monitor. Govern.
You own the outcomes. The agent decides how to get there, your job is the guardrails and the escalation path. You're not watching steps, you're watching results. You're responsible for everything the agent does in your name, which means your governance has to be as capable as the system you're running.
Everything the agent does in your name. Steps are its problem.
You have governance in place for what you can't predict. Not before.
Take this with you
A formatted PDF version of the Field Guide: all three phases, ready to share or revisit offline.