Methodology & scoring

No black box. This page lays out exactly how the diagnostic is built, how every answer is scored, and how we turn 45 answers into one AI Readiness Level. The model is grounded in the leading public frameworks — Gartner's AI maturity model and hype cycle, McKinsey's State of AI, BCG's “Where's the Value in AI?”, Deloitte's State of Generative AI, MIT Sloan Management Review, and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.

Method and question design by Vishen Maharaj, Founder & CEO at Eqwitty. About the team behind the diagnostic.

The nine pillars & their weights

We measure AI readiness across nine pillars. They are not weighted equally. Following BCG's 10-20-70 finding — that roughly 70% of AI value comes from people and process, 20% from technology and data, and only 10% from algorithms — the weights tilt toward strategy, people, and operating model over raw technology. Weights sum to 100.

“Questions” counts the scored single-choice items behind each pillar. Some pillars also have multi-select and open-text questions that inform other parts of your result.

Each pillar name links to a page with the exact questions behind it and what each maturity level looks like.

How the questions work

Every scored question is behaviorally anchored: instead of a vague 1-to-5 agree/disagree scale, each answer describes a concrete, recognizable state of the world — from “no sign-off, whoever builds it switches it on” to “risk-tiered review board.” You pick the one that matches reality, and it maps to a maturity score from 0 to 4. This is more reliable than agree/disagree scales and reads the same way to everyone.

• “Honestly, not sure” never counts against your score. It is recorded as a blind spot — itself a useful finding — and excluded from the math.
• Multi-select questions (e.g. which capabilities you have) feed a separate capability breadth metric, not the maturity score, so ticking fewer boxes honestly never double-counts against you.
• Plain language. Where a technical term is unavoidable, it is glossed in one line, so a non-technical leader and an engineer answer the same question the same way.

How your score is calculated

1. Per question: your chosen answer is worth 0–4.
2. Per pillar: we average the scored answers in that pillar and shift the scale to 1–5 (the Gartner-style maturity scale). Unanswered or “not sure” questions are left out of the average.
3. Overall: your pillar scores are combined into one 1–5 score using the weights above — a weighted average, so the heavier pillars move your result more.
4. Your level: the overall score lands you in one of five maturity bands.

The five levels

Beyond the single score

• Biggest bottleneck. We rank your pillars by impact — how much lifting each one would move your weighted overall, not just by which is lowest — and name the single constraint holding the rest back.
• Aspiration gap. You tell us where you want to be in 12 and 36 months; we show the gap between that ambition and today.
• Blind spots. Pillars where more than a third of answers were “not sure” are flagged — knowing what you don't know is part of readiness.
• Peer benchmarks. Where data exists, your pillars are compared with anonymized peers in your industry.
• Where you land on the AI curve. Your band maps to a stage of Gartner's hype cycle — including the Trough of Disillusionment many organizations hit once AI is in production.

The game layer (and what it does not affect)

XP, momentum, stage-clear moments, and the progress bar exist to make a thorough diagnostic worth finishing. They are purely about engagement. XP does not change your score in any way — you earn the same XP for every answered question regardless of which option you pick. Your AI Readiness Level is determined entirely by the scoring math above.

Industry editions

A handful of questions are rewritten for specific industries so the answers describe situations people recognize. The scoring never changes, which keeps results comparable across sectors.

• Financial Services
• Healthcare
• Manufacturing
• Retail
• Technology

Frequently asked questions

How long does the AI readiness assessment take?

About 15 to 20 minutes. There are seven quick context questions, then 45 diagnostic questions in three sections: where you are today, what is driving your business, and where you want to go.

How much does the assessment cost?

Each report is a one-time payment of CA$19.80. You answer the diagnostic, then pay once to unlock your results: your overall score and level, the nine-pillar radar, blind spots, the stage-aware 90-day plan and the PDF. There is no subscription and nothing recurring.

Can I reopen a report I have already paid for?

Yes. Sign in with the same email and your past assessments appear in your history. Any report you have paid for opens immediately, as often as you like. An assessment you completed but did not pay for stays saved and can be unlocked later.

How is the AI readiness score calculated?

Each scored answer is worth 0 to 4. Answers are averaged within each pillar and shifted to a 1 to 5 scale, then the nine pillar scores are combined as a weighted average. The overall score places you in one of five maturity bands: Awareness, Active, Operational, Systemic or Transformational.

What frameworks is the assessment based on?

The model draws on Gartner's AI maturity model and hype cycle, BCG's finding that most AI value comes from people and process, McKinsey's State of AI, Deloitte's State of Generative AI, MIT Sloan Management Review and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.

Does answering “not sure” lower my score?

No. A “not sure” answer is recorded as a blind spot and excluded from the maturity math. Pillars where more than a third of answers are “not sure” are flagged, because knowing what you do not know is part of readiness.

Are my results compared with other organizations?

Where enough data exists, your pillar scores are compared with anonymized peers in your industry and size band. Individual answers are never shared, and cohorts below a minimum size show no benchmark rather than a misleading one.

Can several people from the same organization take it?

Yes. Each person signs in with their own email and receives their own report, which makes it easy to compare how different leaders see the same organization.