---
title: "The three levels of AI in a company"
slug: tres-niveles-de-ia
lang: en
situation: operar
format: hoja
minutes: 5
video: 19
updated: 2026-10-19
---

# The three levels of AI in a company

> For anyone who has to explain "where we are" with AI in one meeting without using the word transformation in vain.

## When to use it

- Leadership asks "how are we doing with AI?" and the only answer is a list of tools.
- An area says it has "transformed" and the only thing that changed is that it writes emails faster.
- You have to choose where to put the next effort and there are ten loose ideas.

## The sheet

| | Level one: tasks | Level two: processes | Level three: the operation |
|---|---|---|---|
| What changes | One person does the same thing, faster. An email, a summary. | How work passes from one person to another. Fewer waits, fewer back-and-forths. | Roles, metrics and who decides what. |
| What it costs | Licences per person and learning time. This is the cheap level. | Redesigning the process, connecting systems and measuring before and after. It costs people's time, not just licences. | Changing job descriptions, metrics and incentives. It costs leadership decisions and change management. |
| How to tell you are here | AI use is measured in people who use it. No process has fewer steps than a year ago. | At least one complete process has a cycle metric that went down and an owner who answers for it. | A job that used to exist stopped being done and another role absorbed it by design, not by accident. |
| What moves you to the next | Choosing one complete process, start to finish, and redesigning it. Not more tools. | Two or three level-two processes forcing a change in an area's roles and metrics. | There is no next. There is reviewing every quarter what works and what gets switched off. |
| Mark where you are | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |

My reading: most companies are at level one and call it transformation.

Process I will take to level two: ____________________ · Owner: ____________ · Cycle metric today: ______

## How to fill it in 5 minutes

1. Read the three columns with the leadership team and ask each person to mark a level without debating. The differences are the conversation.
2. Apply the row "How to tell you are here". If all you can count is people who use AI, you are at level one no matter how many tools you have.
3. If someone marked level two or three, ask for the name of the process and the metric. No name and no number means back to level one.
4. Choose a single process to take to level two and write it on the last line. One complete process, not three half-done.
5. The most common mistake: skipping levels. Changing roles and metrics before a process has really changed produces new org charts with the same work as always.

## The line that is almost always missing

"Process I will take to level two." Level one is comfortable because each person improves alone and nobody has to agree with anybody. Level two forces a change in how work passes between people, and that is where the result starts to show in the numbers. Without a named process, the sheet is a diagnosis; with one, it is a plan.

## If this becomes a big decision

If moving up a level means changing roles or contracts that are hard to reverse and carries your name, the free tools at vicsol.org/decision-clarity/ help you structure the decision. They do not replace a formal review.

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Vic Sol · Decision Desk · vicsol.org/resources/ · Free to use with attribution.
This sheet structures a conversation; it is not legal, financial or audit advice.