Free tool

AI readiness assessment tool

This AI readiness assessment tool scores your organization across six dimensions in about five minutes, free, with the result shown on screen and nothing emailed or gated.

For each statement, choose No, Partly, or Yes. Score as it actually is today, not as you mean it to be.

1 Strategy

You can name two or three specific processes where AI would save money or time, with a number attached.

One named executive owns AI decisions and the AI budget.

Each candidate use case has a written definition of what "working" means.

Real budget is allocated, not "we'll find the money if the pilot goes well."

You have a short written list of things you've decided not to use AI for.

2 Data

For each candidate use case, you know which systems hold the data and who controls access to them.

Someone has checked the accuracy and completeness of that data within the last year.

The teams who would build or run the AI can get to the data without a months-long access request.

You know which fields are regulated, confidential, or personal before any of them go near a model.

You can say where a given record came from and how long you're allowed to keep it.

3 Systems

The systems that would feed or receive AI output have APIs or reliable export paths.

A test environment exists that resembles production.

Your identity and access setup can give a system account narrow, least-privilege access.

Logging is good enough that you could reconstruct what a system did last Tuesday.

Every system in scope has a named owner who can approve changes to it.

4 People

You know roughly how your staff already use AI tools, including the unsanctioned ones.

At least one person inside the company can technically evaluate a vendor's AI claims.

There's a training plan and budget for the people whose daily work would change.

The managers of affected teams know what's coming and have had a say in it.

People can flag AI mistakes without it reflecting on them.

5 Governance

A written AI usage policy exists and the staff it applies to have actually read it.

The policy states where company data may and may not be sent.

There's a defined path for approving a new AI use: who reviews it, against what criteria.

Decisions made with AI assistance can be reconstructed after the fact.

You know which regulations apply to your AI use and one person tracks changes to them.

6 Operations

A named team would monitor and maintain each AI system after go-live.

When the AI gets something wrong, a defined human process catches and corrects it.

For any AI product you buy, you know how you'd get your data out and leave.

Usage-based AI spend has an owner and a ceiling.

The process you want to automate is documented as it actually runs, not as the manual says it runs.

How the score works

Six dimensions, five statements each, scored 0 for no, 1 for partly, and 2 for yes. Each dimension lands somewhere between 0 and 10. We keep the dimensions separate rather than rolling them into one grade, because the lowest dimension is the one that decides what happens next, and a single number would bury it. The bands are simple:

  • 0 to 4, foundations. Fix this before building anything on top of it.
  • 5 to 7, workable. Good enough to run a contained, well-scoped first use case.
  • 8 to 10, strong. Not your constraint; spend your attention elsewhere.

The full reasoning behind each dimension is written up in how to assess AI readiness, and the same 30 statements exist as a printable AI readiness checklist if you would rather work through them on paper.

The six dimensions

Strategy is whether you know what you want AI to do and who owns that decision. Data is whether the information a use case needs is findable, accurate, and allowed to be used. Systems is whether your software can be integrated with and observed. People is whether the teams whose work changes are ready and heard. Governance is whether there are rules for AI use that people actually follow. Operations is whether someone will own each system after go-live, when the interesting failures happen.

Free tool, or the paid assessment

This tool is a self-scored, five-minute read you can run yourself. Our paid AI readiness assessment is our senior team checking the same six dimensions against your real systems and data over 3–6 weeks, at a fixed price of $20,000 to $80,000 (where in that range depends on scope: how many systems and teams we assess, company size, and regulatory exposure), ending in a written recommendation you keep. Use the free version to see roughly where you stand; use the paid version when you are about to spend real money and want the score to be right.

We do not benchmark your score against other companies. Some tools claim to, and most are guessing. When we have an honest dataset from real assessments, we will say so and show the sample size.

Questions people ask

Is this AI readiness assessment tool really free?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser, shows the result on screen, and asks for no email and no sign-up. Nothing you enter leaves your device, so nothing is stored or sent to us.
How is the free tool different from your paid assessment?
This tool scores what you tell it. Our paid AI readiness assessment is our senior team verifying the same six dimensions inside your actual systems and data over a few weeks, ending in a written recommendation. The free version is a fast directional read; the paid version is the one you act on.
How do you score AI readiness?
Six dimensions (strategy, data, systems, people, governance, and operations), five questions each, scored 0, 1, or 2. That gives every dimension a score out of 10. We do not average them into a single grade on purpose: the lowest dimension is the information, and one number would hide it. The full method is written up in how to assess AI readiness.
Does a high score mean we are ready to deploy AI?
No, and we would not tell you that from a questionnaire. A high score means the foundations are in place; it does not tell you whether a specific use case will pay off, which needs a look at your real data and processes. A low score is more decisive: it points straight at what to fix first.
Do you compare our score to other companies?
No. Some tools claim to benchmark you against your industry; we do not, because we do not yet have an honest dataset to do it with. When we can benchmark from real assessments without guessing, we will say so and show the sample size.

By Nick Major. Last reviewed July 2026.

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