The five AWORD dimensions
AI Chamber publishes this research framework. Its intended scope is business adoption across markets, with U.S. evidence as the starting point and an international research agenda. The name does not limit the intended research population to Chamber members.
Adoption Draft weight: 30%
Businesses currently using AI, with the survey population and definition of use stated.
Workforce preparation Draft weight: 20%
Training, employee guidance, and organizational preparation for using AI.
Outcomes Draft weight: 15%
Documented business benefits, with reported results distinguished from evidence of causation.
Readiness / barriers Draft weight: 15%
Ability to overcome obstacles to useful adoption. Barrier indicators require an explicitly defined scoring direction.
Depth of use Draft weight: 20%
How broadly and intensively AI is integrated into business functions and work.
Proposed formula
AWORD = 0.30A + 0.20W + 0.15O + 0.15R + 0.20D
Each component would have a defined score from 0 to 100, with higher values consistently representing stronger performance. These are the same five proposed weights, reordered into AWORD.
Evidence and publication standards
- State the population, reporting period, survey question, unit and uncertainty for each indicator.
- Keep current AI use, future intentions and employee task use distinct.
- Check compatibility of survey populations, periods and denominators before combining indicators.
- Do not replace missing or suppressed data with zero, or infer ZIP and county adoption from unsupported national estimates.
- Check whether changes in question wording break comparability over time.
- Keep Census estimates, original Chamber research and voluntary readiness-quiz responses separately identified.
- Validate scoring and test the effects of the proposed weights before publishing composite results.
Responsible practice across all dimensions
Human oversight, privacy, accessibility and appropriate risk review remain publication and program standards across AWORD.