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Cheat Sheet · Free

The Perfect AI Career Strategy

Six steps. One page. The shortest path from "I think AI affects my job" to a plan you can actually run. Take the assessment, read your risk level, find how senior your work can go, map the work AI can do, pick a role you could move into, build the six-month plan, then check your moves against it and close the gap.

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10 min
To take the reading
$0
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6 mo
Plan horizon
Why this exists

AI is not a hypothetical. The work is already moving.

Most career advice about AI is either panic or denial. Both are useless. The real question is simple: which parts of your role can AI already do, which parts is it nowhere near, and which parts will it take over in the next twenty-four months. Once you can answer those three questions about your own role, the next move tends to be obvious.

This cheat sheet is the short version of how we recommend professionals use the AI Career Index to plan around it. Six steps, in order, with the on-site tool and data doing the analysis for you. Bookmark it, print it, work through it, then re-read in six months.

The Playbook

Six steps. In order. Each one feeds the next.

Each step feeds the next one. Step one gives you what you need for step two, step two sets up step three, and so on. Run them in order. Skip one and the plan stops holding together.

01
The reading
Get a real read, not a vibe check.
Jump to step
02
The band
Read your risk level, not just the score.
Jump to step
03
Authority
Find where your work sits in the decision chain.
Jump to step
04
Map the work
Map the work AI can do and the work it can't.
Jump to step
05
The move
Pick a role to move into.
Jump to step
06
The plan
Build the six-month plan.
Jump to step
The frame

Two lines. The drift line, and the strategic line.

Every role has both. The job of this playbook is to widen the gap between them in your favour, then keep widening it.

DriftStrategicToday

Same starting point. The drift line is what happens if you do nothing. The strategic line is what happens if you work the plan.

The drift line

If you do nothing

AI takes over the routine parts of your role. It absorbs the work that pays your salary today. Your seat doesn't disappear, but it carries less weight, less say, less budget. Promotions slow down. Raises track inflation, not what you add. The role hollows out around you while the title stays the same.

The strategic line

If you work the plan

You hand the routine work to AI on purpose. You take on one more level of responsibility. You build up a set of work that proves what only you can do. You either go deeper or move to a better-placed role. Six months in, the work that defines your role has shifted, and so has your value. AI is working for you, not against you.

01
Step 01 · The reading

Get a real read, not a vibe check.

Most career advice about AI is opinion. Your career deserves a number. Take the 10-minute AI Career Index assessment. The same answers always produce the same score, so the result is something you can stand behind with a manager, a recruiter, or yourself.

  • Set rules do the scoring. No black-box AI guessing.
  • Free for the headline numbers. No credit card to start.
  • Same answers, same score, every time.
AI Career Index
642/1000
Sample reading
Risk Band
Medium
Sample reading
24-mo projection
-58pts
Sample reading
How to read this sample
  • AI Career IndexMid-range score. Could go either way: how senior and how visible you are decides the path.
  • Risk BandThe role is changing, not collapsing. Acting early pays off.
  • 24-mo projectionThe score you are likely to land on if you do nothing.
02
Step 02 · The band

Read your risk level, not just the score.

The score is the headline. The level is the strategy. Three risk levels tell you where you really stand with AI, and each one points to a different first move.

  • High exposure: AI is quickly taking over the routine parts of your role.
  • Medium: it could go either way. Where you sit in the role decides which path.
  • Low: the role is getting more valuable as AI handles the work around it.
0 – 400
High exposure
AI is quickly taking over the routine parts of your role. Move up or switch roles.
401 – 700
Medium exposure
It could go either way. How senior and how visible your work is decides which side of the role gets paid.
701 – 1000
Low exposure
Getting more valuable. AI handles the surrounding work and lifts what's left.
The 0 to 1000 score scale
Sample 642
0 – 400 · High
401 – 700 · Medium
701 – 1000 · Low
03
Step 03 · Authority

Find where your work sits in the decision chain.

This measures how high your work sits in the decision-making chain. Moving up is the most reliable way to protect yourself from AI, because the higher you go, the more your role is about judgment, responsibility, and consequences rather than how much you churn out.

  • Execution and Operator roles face the most AI risk.
  • Architect and Owner roles set direction, design systems, and own outcomes.
  • Stop competing with AI on sheer output. You will lose that contest.
4
Execution
Carries out set tasks. Highest AI risk.
Risk
3
Operator
Runs the day-to-day workflow inside a set system.
2
Architect
Designs the system. Decides what runs and why.
1
Owner
Sets direction and owns the outcome. Gets stronger with AI.
Strengthens
Three moves that raise your level
  • OwnTake ownership of one decision you currently escalate.
  • DesignWrite the spec for one process instead of running it.
  • SignPut your name on one outcome, not just the output.
04
Step 04 · Map the work

Map the work AI can do and the work it can't.

Inside every role there are two kinds of work. One kind is work AI can already do, or will be able to do within a year. The other needs judgment, taste, responsibility, or relationships, and AI is nowhere near it. The plan is to hand off the first and double down on the second.

  • Every role page lists what AI can already do, and what it cannot.
  • Hand the first kind to AI. Stop doing it by hand.
  • Double down on the work only you can do. Let AI speed you up, do not hand it your judgment.
Work AI can take over
Delegate to AI
  • Drafting first-pass copy, briefs, and summaries.
  • Turning structured data into routine reports.
  • Translating, transcribing, formatting, reformatting.
  • Looking up and pulling together known answers.
Work that holds up
Double down
  • Judgment calls when the answer is not clear.
  • Owning the decision, the trade-off, and the responsibility.
  • Taste, a point of view, knowing when to push back.
  • Relationship work, trust, negotiation, persuasion.
Run this audit once a week
  • Q1Which task did I do this week that AI could have done in 10 minutes?
  • Q2Which task did I do this week that only I could have done?
  • Q3How do I do more of the second and less of the first next week?
05
Step 05 · The move

Pick a role to move into.

Sometimes AI takes over the routine parts of a role faster than you can climb to a more senior one. When that happens, moving sideways is the right answer. The role pages already list nearby roles in the same field that hold up better, and show which of your skills carry over, so the move is a smart step rather than a guess.

  • At-risk roles list nearby roles in the same field that hold up better.
  • Your skills carry over when you move sideways at the right level.
  • Operator to architect. Executor to advisor. Producer to director.
From
Operator
To
Architect
Move from running the system to designing it.
From
Executor
To
Advisor
Move from doing the work to shaping what work gets done.
From
Producer
To
Director
Move from churning out work to creative direction and taste.
From
Generalist
To
Specialist
Move from broad-but-shallow to deep expertise that holds up.
06
Step 06 · The plan

Build the six-month plan.

Once you have your read, the moves become obvious. Premium turns them into a month-by-month six-month plan, built around the things that actually moved your score, with a short check-in at the end of each month so you can tell whether the plan is working.

  • Premium unlocks a week-by-week plan tied to your result.
  • One clear move per month, with a check-in at the end of each.
  • $49 one-time unlock. No subscription, no renewal.
M1
List the work AI could do.
List every task you do weekly. Mark the ones AI can already do.
M2
Pick one strength to build.
Choose the thing your score said matters most, and commit to improving it.
M3
Take on one bigger decision.
Take ownership of one decision you used to escalate.
M4
Ship one proof-of-work piece.
Produce the one piece of work that proves what only you can do.
M5
Open a door to a new role.
Have one conversation with someone in the role you want to move into.
M6
Review and adjust.
Re-read your dashboard against the moves you actually made. See what changed in the forecast, and plan the next six months from there.
Then: audit at the six-month mark

Compare the drift line to the strategic line. Close the gap.

The drift line is what happens to your role if you do nothing. The strategic line is what happens if you work the plan. Closing the gap between them is the real job. Check your moves against the plan at the six-month mark, look at what shifted in the forecast and what didn't, and adjust from there. The score moving is proof the plan worked.

Cheat sheet

Print it. Read it. Share it with your team.

A printable PDF of the six-step playbook, formatted for A4. Free with any AI Career Index account. Use it for yourself, share it with the team you manage, hand it to anyone in your network trying to figure out what AI means for their role.

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What's inside the PDF
  • Cover page with the playbook framing.
  • All six steps with the same bullets you read above.
  • The drift line vs strategic line frame on a single panel.
  • Direct links back to /start, /methodology, /roles, /pricing.
Articles in this guide

Go deeper on every step

46 long-form articles, grouped by which of the six steps above they expand on. Click a step to see its articles.

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"My training budget is always questioned, because leaders ask whether it actually changes anything. This gave me a solid answer. Training that strengthens a specific skill shows up as real career progress over the next year or so. I finally have numbers to back the case."

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"The assessment made it clear straight away where my real problem was. I thought I needed to get better at my job. It showed me the issue was how I was being paid and positioned, not my ability."

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"It completely changed how I think about growing my career. I had been aiming at the wrong part of the market entirely, and it showed me where to aim instead."

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