The ARTS model is the framework I build AI strategy work on: Ambition, Roles, Training and Shared rules – the four decisions a leadership team has to make before AI development can be steered by direction rather than chance.
The ambition answers what the organisation wants to achieve with AI – and what it does not want. The roles decide where the technology should make a difference, task by task. Training ensures that people can fill their part of the division of labour. And the shared rules make the whole thing safe and common to everyone.
The point of the model is the sequence: without ambition, the roles become arbitrary; without roles, the training becomes generic; and without training, the rules remain on paper. That is why the work always begins at the top – with senior management, not in the IT department.
In practice
On a strategy day, a leadership team works through all four letters and leaves with a draft ambition, a first version of the role atlas, a competency plan and the first shared rules – one day, four decisions.
How to explain it to senior management
»AI strategy is not a list of technologies. It is four leadership decisions: what do we want, where should AI play a role, how do we train – and by which rules.«
The ARTS model is the backbone of my AI strategy workshop for boards and leadership teams.