AI Adoption Score vs Section

Section (sectionai.com) coaches and trains people in AI, tests how proficient they are, and with Section HQ tracks how they use AI tools. AI Adoption Score only measures: where adoption stands in every team, why it stalls and who can fix it, with surveys you run yourself. Here's how to choose, and when to use both.

Last checked: October 15, 2026

Side by side

Question	AI Adoption Score	Section
What it is	A measurement product: surveys and live reports you run yourself	An AI enablement company: coaching (Section Coach), courses, a proficiency test, consulting, and Section HQ for heads of AI^{2, 3, 4, 6}
What it measures	A level for every person and team across usage, skills, impact, culture and vision, plus barriers, worries and skills by tool (opens in a new tab)	Each person's AI proficiency, from Novice to Expert; Section HQ tracks use, proficiency and impact by department^{1, 2}
Where the data comes from	Surveys and short quizzes; nothing to connect	A test with hands-on tasks; Section HQ connects to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, and optionally your HR system^{1, 2, 8}
Why adoption stalls	18 barriers, each with who can fix it, in a 5-minute survey you launch yourself (opens in a new tab)	A barrier map, as part of its AI Transformation Planning consulting⁴
Engineering teams	A questionnaire for engineering and delivery, a project practices checklist (SQM), and quizzes for n8n and Claude (opens in a new tab)	Courses organized by business function, none for engineering roles⁵
Training	None: we measure, and you choose who trains	Coaching, courses, team certification, a bootcamp for heads of AI, and consultants^{3, 6}
Benchmarks	None from other companies yet	The AI Proficiency Report, twice a year; June 2026: 5,026 US knowledge workers¹
Price	Free plan; paid plans on request	Team plans through a sales call; Section Coach is free for one person, or $62.50 a month on Premium, billed yearly³

Where Section is stronger

Skills tested by doing. Its proficiency test has hands-on tasks. Our levels come from what people report, with checks, and only the n8n and Claude assessments score a quiz.¹
Usage data. Section HQ tracks use across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot. We only know what people tell us.²
It measures and fixes. Coaching, courses, certification and consultants come from the same company, so a gap leads straight to a plan.^{3, 4}
A public benchmark. Its AI Proficiency Report comes out twice a year, from about 5,000 people. We have no cross-company benchmark yet.¹
An OpenAI partnership. Section says it's an OpenAI Services Partner, coaching ChatGPT Enterprise customers with 500 to 1,000 employees.⁷
Enterprise checks. Section says its platform is SOC 2 Type II certified, and it offers SSO and SCIM. We have neither yet.^{2, 8}

How we differ

The people side in one place. The 360° (opens in a new tab) gives every person, team and the organization a level across five dimensions. AI Adoption Barriers (opens in a new tab) names what stops people and who can fix it, and the AI Anxiety Scale (opens in a new tab) measures worries on a published research scale. You launch each one yourself; no consulting project needed.

We don't sell training. The result doesn't point to our own courses, so you can use it to choose any trainer, Section included, and run it again afterwards to see what changed.

Engineering depth. Engineers get a questionnaire of their own, quizzes that score n8n and Claude skills, and a checklist of a project's practices.

Nothing to connect, free to start. No AI tool or HR system to link, and a free plan you can start without a sales call.

Questions

Is Section's proficiency level the same as your levels?

No. Section's four levels, from Novice to Expert, describe how well one person uses AI, from their usage, knowledge and a hands-on test. Our five levels, L1 Observer to L5 Native, combine usage, skills, impact, culture and vision, and roll up to teams and the organization.¹

Can we measure before and after Section's training?

Yes. Run the 360° or AI Skills Distribution before the training and again after it, and the report's Trends tab compares the two rounds.

Do you need access to our AI tools or HR system?

No. Nothing is connected: people answer surveys and quizzes. More in Security and privacy (opens in a new tab).

Sources

See where your people stand on AI.

Start free with the 360° AI Maturity Assessment: about 15 minutes per person,
a live report from the first answer, and nothing to connect.

Start Free Book a Demo