Sprocket Refreshes AI Literacy Framework into Dual-Axis Model: 'Business Tool Development' and 'AI as a Thinking Tool'

## Sprocket Refreshes AI Literacy Framework into Dual-Axis Model: 'Business Tool Development' and 'AI as a Thinking Tool'

### Publishing a New Definition Aimed at Improving Intellectual Productivity for All Employees

Sprocket Inc. (Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Koji Fukada), a provider of CX (Customer Experience) improvement platforms, has refreshed its AI literacy level definition for all employees. The new framework has been released as a dual-axis model consisting of the "Business Tool Development Axis" and the "AI as a Thinking Tool Axis."

Previously, the company only defined the "Business Tool Development Axis," which measured the ability to structure and verbalize business processes for hand-off to AI. In this update, the "AI as a Thinking Tool Axis" has been newly introduced to evaluate the depth of inquiry to AI and the ability to synthesize AI's responses.

By building a system that evaluates these two axes independently, Sprocket aims to improve intellectual productivity through AI utilization and raise the overall quality of operations throughout the organization.

### Background of the AI Literacy Level Definition Refresh

Sprocket has been continuously working on improving its organizational design under the consistent concept of "creating an organization that trusts its teammates."

As part of this effort, and based on the premise that all employees proactively commit to business growth, the company has worked to build an organization where AI can be utilized as a core asset in all tasks, regardless of specific roles.

With the rapid spread of generative AI, the company established a generative AI utilization environment for all employees in 2024 and defined and published a five-stage AI literacy level in early 2025.

The initial definition was mainly intended to present proficiency goals to be reached in AI utilization and to provide guidance for capacity development. AI that is customized for specific tasks or roles and can be used repeatedly for the same purpose was called a "Generative AI App," and literacy levels were defined primarily around the "Business Tool Development Axis," focusing on the utilization and development of these apps.

While this focus on the "Business Tool Development Axis" was effective in promoting the AI-driven transformation of business processes, as the use of generative AI became a daily routine, a new realization emerged.

The ability to determine the purpose and depth of inquiries to AI and how to integrate those answers into one's own thinking is an essentially different and independent skill axis from the "Business Tool Development Axis," which involves structuring and verbalizing processes for AI.

In the initial literacy levels, these two skill axes were mixed. However, high proficiency in one axis does not necessarily mean high proficiency in the other, and it is necessary to recognize and improve them independently.

This perspective has been systematized in the newly added "AI as a Thinking Tool Axis," refreshing the framework by combining the two axes.

### The Dual-Axis Framework for AI Literacy Level Definition

In the new AI literacy level definition, levels are evaluated from Lv. 1 to Lv. 4 for each of the two independent axes.

#### Business Tool Development Axis
This index measures the ability to structure and verbalize business processes for hand-off to AI and whether they can actually be implemented in business operations.
It evaluates the ability to design and establish reproducible AI for business, ranging from personal efficiency improvement to organization-wide deployment and operation through design and implementation.

#### AI as a Thinking Tool Axis
This measures the purpose and depth of AI usage, evaluating the quality of inquiries and how responses are synthesized.

While the two axes are evaluated independently, Sprocket believes that people with a high level on the "AI as a Thinking Tool Axis" tend to have a deeper understanding of business process structures, creating a correlation where they are likely to produce high-quality designs on the "Business Tool Development Axis" as well.

### Comment from Koji Fukada, Representative Director and CEO of Sprocket Inc.

"The emergence of generative AI is fundamentally changing the way we work. While feeling a sense of crisis that we will lose competitiveness if we do not face this change seriously as an organization, we are also working to improve the AI literacy of all employees with the expectation that the potential of individuals and the organization will greatly expand by mastering AI.

In our previous framework, we centered on the 'Business Tool Development Axis,' the ability to organize business processes into a form that can be handled by AI. However, through actual implementation, we saw significant individual differences in how people receive AI outputs and utilize them in their own thinking.

As long as AI is viewed merely as a substitute for search or a tool to get ready-made answers, it is difficult to fully draw out its potential.

I believe that using AI wisely means being able to think deeply together with AI as a partner. Therefore, we have systematized that perspective as the 'AI as a Thinking Tool Axis.' By visualizing this with two axes, it becomes easier for each employee to understand their current position in AI utilization and map out their next steps.

First, we aim for all employees to reach Lv. 3 on the 'Business Tool Development Axis' and Lv. 4 on the 'AI as a Thinking Tool Axis,' creating an organization where AI is utilized as a partner in thinking. We hope this serves as a reference case for other companies tackling similar challenges."