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The 4D Framework

📖 Lesson content

What you'll learn

Estimated time: 15 minutes

By the end of this lesson you'll be able to:

  • Explain how the AI Fluency Framework (4Ds) can be applied to your work
  • Define each of the 4Ds — Delegation, Description, Discernment, and Diligence

Introducing the 4D Framework for AI Fluency

(7 minutes)

This video introduces the 4D Framework — Delegation, Description, Discernment, and Diligence — and explains how each competency applies to your daily work.

Key takeaways

  • The 4D Framework has two loops: the inner loop (Description & Discernment) guides your day-to-day AI interactions, while the outer loop (Delegation & Diligence) guides broader decisions about when and how to use AI.
  • Delegation — decide what AI handles and what stays with you.
  • Description — communicate clearly what you need and how you want AI to approach it.
  • Discernment — evaluate what AI gives back before acting on it.
  • Diligence — take full responsibility for how you use AI and own the final result.

Exercise

Exercise: Map your context to the 4Ds

Pull out the context document you built in the previous lesson. This exercise uses it to show you which competencies you'll need most — and gets you into a real interaction before the next lesson.

Part I: Tag your document

Read through your context document and mark each goal, concern, or task with the competency it most relates to:

  • Delegation — decisions about what AI should and shouldn't handle in your business
  • Description — questions about how to communicate what you need clearly
  • Discernment — concerns about evaluating or trusting what AI gives back
  • Diligence — questions about responsibility, verification, or transparency with customers or staff

Which competency shows up most? That's where your attention is already focused — and usually where you'll see the fastest gains.

Part II: Try one

From your context document, pick one task that came up — something real and waiting for you. Before opening AI, write down:

  • Which competencies apply? (Most real tasks involve more than one.)
  • What does "good enough" look like for this output?

Then take one round with AI on that task. Don't aim for a finished product — just get a useful starting point.

Part III: Reflect

Look at what you got back. Which competency felt natural? Which caught you off guard? Note one thing you'd do differently on the next pass.

Lesson reflection

  • Were you surprised by which competency dominated your mapped questions? What does that tell you?
  • How might the two loops have changed a recent AI interaction you had?

What's next

In the next lesson, we'll look at how generative AI works — what it can and can't do — so you can put the 4D Framework into practice with clear-eyed expectations.

Feedback

As you progress through the course, we'd love to hear from you about how you are using concepts from the course in your work, plus any feedback you may have. Share your feedback here.

🎬 Video transcript

Source video: 0i0bkTKHYSY

No transcript available — see lesson body for narrative content.

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