Professionals
Trained around the world
Participants
Come from Tier 1 institutions
Satisfaction rate
In client delivery
C-level leaders in financial services are positioned to become strategic advisors, with outcome-driven goals, employee engagement, and solid governance frameworks
Managers level need a deep understanding of industry-specific use cases to identify potential risks and opportunities
Employees require practical training on the latest AI and digital tools, enabling them to automate routine tasks and deliver more efficient and higher-quality work in the financial sector
Who This Is For?
Suggested Citation
Nguyen Trieu, H. (2026). CFTE AI Proficiency Framework. Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE). Version 1.0. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19652972
Abstract
A common language for AI proficiency
The CFTE AI Proficiency Framework is a public reference framework for defining, assessing, and developing AI proficiency across the professional workforce. It provides a common model built around three public proficiency levels, ten capability domains, and three assessment dimensions: knowledge, skills, and behaviours. The framework is designed to remain durable as AI tools evolve, while supporting diagnostics, sector profiles, and broader capability development.
The Framework
What is the CFTE AI Proficiency Framework?
The CFTE AI Proficiency Framework is a common reference model for defining, assessing, and developing AI proficiency across the professional workforce. It distinguishes durable capability from temporary tool familiarity, and provides a stable structure through which AI readiness, proficiency, tool fluency, and applied capability can be understood more clearly.
Framework Architecture
Framework at a Glance
How Proficiency is Assessed
Knowledge
What people understand: concepts, principles, terminology, mechanisms, and limitations.
Skills
What people can do: use AI appropriately, validate outputs, and apply techniques in practical situations.
Behaviours
How people exercise judgement: responsible use, verification discipline, awareness of limits, and oversight.
Progression logic across levels
Core Concepts
Four Concepts to Keep Distinct
These do not form a simple automatic ladder. A person may be broadly proficient, only moderately fluent in a new tool, and still vary significantly in applied capability depending on role and context.
Public Structure
The Three Public Levels
A simple public structure supported by a more granular developmental model
AI Literacy
Safe and disciplined use in professional contexts.
Applied AI Practitioner
Independent application, output validation, and workflow use.
AI Systems and Decision Leader
Systems reasoning, orchestration judgement, and governance capability.
Internal Developmental Bands
Band 0 is analytically useful as a baseline but is not part of the public proficiency ladder.
Capability Domains
The Ten Capability Domains
The same domains apply across all levels, with increasing depth and expectations
Audiences
How to Use the Framework
For Professionals
Use the framework to understand what durable AI capability looks like beyond temporary tool familiarity, and to identify how your capability may need to develop over time.
For Organisations
Use the framework as a common language for workforce expectations, hiring conversations, development planning, capability benchmarking, and future diagnostic work.
For Policymakers and Sector Bodies
Use the framework as a reference point for capability dialogue, public capability initiatives, and sector-specific interpretation that can be built on a shared foundation.
For Educators and Assessment Providers
Use the framework to structure curricula, diagnostics, pathways, and assessments around a shared architecture that remains stable even as tools evolve.
Global AI Expectations
A Framework Designed to Stay Alive
The framework is intended to remain stable at its core while the wider ecosystem around it continues to grow. This companion research volume documents how 20+ major global organisations are defining and operationalising AI proficiency expectations across roles.
Each entry follows a consistent structure: company metadata with a CFTE level mapping, role-specific entries where the source distinguishes between roles, and a quotes and signals appendix drawn from publicly available sources.
Featured Entry - Most Detailed Public Rubric
Zapier
Zapier's V2 AI Fluency Rubric (March 2026) is the most operationally explicit public AI expectations document in this research volume. It defines four named levels across 13 departments, with verbatim role-specific descriptors for every level, four assessed components (AI mindset, strategy, building, and accountability), and a four-stage candidate assessment funnel. What qualified as Capable in V1 is now Unacceptable in several roles. AI usage has reached 100% adoption across functions.
CFTE AI PF Database
Live & Continuously UpdatedCFTE AI PF
Database
A structured research database mapping how organisations, roles, and sectors are defining AI proficiency expectations in practice. Each entry is sourced from publicly available materials and mapped to the CFTE framework levels.
📄 Scroll within the preview to explore. For full functionality open in Google Sheets.
Open in Sheets ↗Licence and Adaptation
Public Use and Adaptation
The CFTE AI Proficiency Framework is intended to be used. It is published as a public reference framework so that organisations, professionals, educators, and sector bodies can cite it, discuss it, teach from it, and use it as a foundation for further work.
The framework is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-SA 4.0). Others may copy, redistribute, adapt, and build upon the framework, including for commercial use, provided they give appropriate credit to CFTE, indicate whether changes have been made, and distribute any adapted version under the same licence.
Adaptations may be based on the framework, but they should not present themselves as official CFTE profiles unless that recognition has been granted explicitly. The CFTE name, visual identity, and any wording that implies formal recognition or endorsement should remain under CFTE stewardship.
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