AI Business Maturity Model
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LEVEL 2 OF 5

Prompted Operator

Template-driven prompting with human review

You take control: AI-assisted production, consistently

You feel in control. AI is powerful, and now it works when you direct it. The moment you stop, the value stops—but at least you know how to start.

AI

Level 2

What This Stage Looks Like

At Prompted Operator, the business now uses AI on purpose. Humans still run the workflow end-to-end, but AI becomes the standard "first-draft engine" for specific tasks. The key difference from Level 1 is standardization: people don't just "ask AI stuff," they use shared templates and repeatable patterns.

This stage is where you create the "AI literacy" your future agent systems will depend on: what good input looks like, what the output must contain, what must never be wrong, and how review happens.

The operating model: Humans do the thinking + judgment. AI accelerates drafting + synthesis.

Operating Model at Level 2

What AI Is Doing

Drafting proposals, emails, marketing copy, SOPs, summaries

Rewriting for tone/clarity

Turning structured input blocks into structured output formats

Providing options, not decisions

What Humans Are Doing

Using approved prompt templates

Supplying structured inputs (facts-blocks)

Reviewing, editing, approving

Building a small "prompt library" that compounds

Artifacts You Produce

What you create at this level

Prompt templates by workflow (with example inputs)

Output standards ("what good looks like")

Review checklists (accuracy, tone, compliance)

A lightweight AI policy ("approved tools" + "never paste" rules)

A shared repository (prompt library, examples, best outputs)

Key Metrics

How you measure success

1

Time-to-first-draft (baseline vs now)

2

Revision cycles (how many edits before usable)

3

Quality consistency across staff (variance in outcomes shrinks)

4

Adoption rate of templates (are people actually using them?)

Graduation Criteria

What it takes to reach Level 3

Prompts are standardized and widely adopted

Inputs are structured enough that AI outputs are consistently useful

You can clearly describe at least one workflow as steps (A → B → C)

You can identify what data/tools AI would need to do those steps without copy/paste

You're ready to connect AI into systems-of-record (even read-only at first)

Common Pitfalls

What keeps organizations stuck

Treating prompts like personal magic spells (no shared system)

No review ownership (errors slip through, trust collapses)

"Prompting everything" instead of choosing repeatable workflows

No measurement → no proof → no momentum

Previous Level

1. AI Drifter

Next Level

3. Agent Builder

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