--- type: "Guide" title: "AI Readiness Assessment: 15-Question Self-Test" description: "Free AI readiness assessment: 15 questions across 5 dimensions incl. EU AI Act and GDPR, 4 maturity levels and concrete next steps for your company." resource: "https://www.contextstudios.ai/guides/ki-reifegradanalyse-selbsttest" language: "en" generated: by: "process:contextstudios-md/1" at: "2026-11-10T17:32:12.399Z" status: "stable" --- # AI Readiness Assessment: 15-Question Self-Test An AI readiness assessment shows, across five dimensions – strategy & leadership, processes & use cases, data & systems, people & skills, and governance & legal – how ready your company is for productive AI use and which next step makes sense. This free 15-question self-test takes about ten minutes, places you on one of four levels (Beginner, Explorer, Advanced, AI-Native) and gives a concrete recommendation per level: self-study, workshop or AI consulting. It extends the 7-question short test from our guide “AI in the Mittelstand 2026” and reflects the AI Act deadlines after the 2026 Digital Omnibus. ## The five dimensions of the AI readiness assessment - Difference from the short test: the 7-question self-test in our guide “AI in the Mittelstand 2026” (/guides/ki-mittelstand-2026) gives a quick first estimate. This AI readiness assessment goes deeper with 15 questions across five dimensions and uses the same four levels (Beginner, Explorer, Advanced, AI-Native). If you reach level 2 in the short test, you should score similarly here; differences usually point to a dimension the short test does not cover – above all Governance & legal. - Strategy & leadership checks whether AI has an objective, an accountable owner and a budget. Without these three, pilots remain isolated initiatives. - Processes & use cases checks whether you know where AI creates value, how far your initiatives are and whether you measure success. This dimension most directly decides whether AI pays off. - Data & systems checks data quality, interfaces and the handling of confidential data. In practice, this is often where most of the effort in an AI project goes. - People & skills checks basic knowledge, delivery capability and acceptance. The AI Act requires providers and deployers to take measures supporting the AI literacy of their staff (Art. 4), so training should be documented. - Governance & legal checks the AI inventory, the usage policy and the GDPR and AI Act review. Following the Digital Omnibus, obligations for stand-alone high-risk systems under Annex III apply only from 2 December 2027, while the Art. 50 transparency duties have applied since 2 August 2026. ## AI Readiness Assessment FAQ ### What is an AI readiness assessment? An AI readiness assessment (or AI maturity assessment) evaluates how well a company is prepared – organisationally, technically and legally – to use artificial intelligence. It typically covers strategy, processes, data, skills and governance and maps the result to a maturity level. The goal is not a grade but a prioritised list of next steps. ### How long does the self-test take and how accurate is it? The 15 questions take about ten minutes. The test is a structured self-assessment, not a third-party audit: it shows tendencies and bottlenecks but does not replace an analysis of your data, systems and contracts. Results get more reliable when several people from different areas complete it separately. ### How does this test differ from the self-test in the “AI in the Mittelstand 2026” guide? The short test in the Mittelstand guide has 7 questions and gives a quick first estimate. This assessment has 15 questions across five dimensions, uses the same four levels and additionally covers interfaces, success measurement, acceptance, GDPR and the AI Act. The two tests do not contradict each other; the longer one shows more precisely where the bottleneck is. ### What does the EU AI Act already require from companies that only use AI? Deployers have obligations too. Since February 2025 the bans on certain AI practices and the AI literacy provision (Art. 4) apply; the 2026 Digital Omnibus softened the latter into a duty to take measures supporting AI literacy. Since 2 August 2026 the Art. 50 transparency duties apply. Obligations for stand-alone high-risk systems under Annex III were postponed to 2 December 2027. Seek legal advice for your specific case. ### How widespread is AI in German companies? According to Germany's Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), 26% of companies with 10 or more employees used AI technologies in 2025 – 23% of those with 10–49 employees, 36% with 50–249 and 57% with 250 or more. Bitkom reports 57% for companies with 20 or more employees in September 2026. The figures differ because of different populations and definitions; both sources are linked below. ### What does a professional AI readiness assessment cost at Context Studios? The entry point is a fixed-price workshop: Light Discovery (half a day, €1,500 net), Strategy Day (1 day, €2,500 net) or Prototyping Sprint (2 days, €4,500 net). In it, maturity is assessed jointly and translated into prioritised use cases. Delivery projects are offered at a fixed price after scoping; the quote arrives within 48 hours. ### Which established maturity models exist besides this self-test? In industry, acatech's Industrie 4.0 Maturity Index is widely used and describes maturity in several levels and design fields. For AI risk and governance, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and the ISO/IEC 42001 standard (AI management system) provide guidance. This self-test is deliberately more compact and tailored to small and mid-sized companies.