AI Capability Maturity Model
The AI Capability Maturity Model (Forge ACMM) is a five-stage framework for measuring how far an organisation has progressed from simply having access to AI tools to compounding measurable value from them: Aware, Literate, Capable, Governed, and Compounding.
Most organisations measure AI by tool adoption — licences bought, accounts activated. The ACMM measures something harder and more useful: capability, the ability to use AI well, safely, and at scale. Each stage describes a distinct level of organisational maturity, and the gaps between them are where AI programmes typically stall.
| Stage | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Aware | People know AI tools exist and a few experiment individually. There is no shared understanding of what good use looks like, and no measurement. |
| Literate | Teams understand core concepts — prompting, hallucination, data sensitivity — and can use mainstream tools for everyday tasks without supervision. |
| Capable | People apply AI to real work that changes outcomes: drafting, analysis, decision support. Capability is uneven but demonstrably productive. |
| Governed | Use is consistent, safe and evidenced. Acceptable-use, oversight and data handling are in place, and the organisation can attest to how AI is used. |
| Compounding | AI capability is built into how the organisation operates. Each capability accelerates the next, and value compounds across teams rather than sitting in pockets. |
This is Forge's articulation of the framework, shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. You are free to reproduce and adapt it with attribution to Forge (Chimerical Ventures).
Frequently asked questions
What is the AI Capability Maturity Model?
It is a five-stage framework — Aware, Literate, Capable, Governed, Compounding — for assessing how mature an organisation's use of AI is, focusing on capability and governance rather than tool adoption.
How is AI maturity different from AI adoption?
Adoption measures whether people have access to AI tools. Maturity measures whether they can use them well, safely and at scale, with the governance to prove it. An organisation can have full adoption and very low maturity.
How do I find my organisation's stage?
Take the AI Readiness Assessment, a seven-point self-scoring diagnostic that maps directly onto the five ACMM stages.