The five maturity levels

The five maturity levels A lifecycle diagram generated by Archify. 01 / Maturity ladder 02 / Stalls that cap the level 03 / Regression Documented · policy PDF + spreadsheet · Maturity ladder · Level 1 01 Documented policy PDF + spreadsheet Level 1 Inventoried · registry fed by deploy · Maturity ladder · Level 2 02 Inventoried registry fed by deploy Level 2 Tested · evals stored as evidence · Maturity ladder · Level 3 03 Tested evals stored as evidence Level 3 Enforced · gate blocks the build · Maturity ladder · Level 4 04 Enforced gate blocks the build Level 4 Continuous · audit is a query · Maturity ladder · Level 5 05 Continuous audit is a query Level 5 Stale Eval · slide, never re-run · Stalls that cap the level · Level 3 trap Stale Eval slide, never re-run Level 3 trap Framework Theatre · trivial or stale suite · Stalls that cap the level · Level 4 trap Framework Theatre trivial or stale suite Level 4 trap Decay to Level 3 · telemetry, no decision · Regression · Level 5 trap Decay to Level 3 telemetry, no decision Level 5 trap run once before launch gate on a trivial suite never wired to a decision Legend start active state decision terminal success failure / exit

A ladder from paper to production

  • • A level is a state you demonstrate by querying the registry, running the gate and reading the evidence store
  • • Each level is assessed across all five stack layers; the overall level is the weakest layer
  • • The rail's five steps carry the observable signal that proves each level

Rising confidence, three questions

  • • Documented and Inventoried answer what AI is running
  • • Tested and Enforced answer what it is allowed to do
  • • Continuous answers what evidence proves it, from telemetry

Traps that move you back

  • • Stale eval: run once before launch, pasted into a slide, never re-run
  • • Framework theatre: a gate on a trivial or stale suite is a green build that proves nothing
  • • Observability without enforcement decays back to Level 3 dressed up as Level 5