AI Safety Maturity Model: Where Does Your Company Stand?

Not all AI safety programs are created equal. Some companies are firefighting incidents. Others have systematic safeguards.

This maturity model helps you understand where you are—and what to do next.

The 5 Maturity Levels

Level 1: Ad-hoc (🔴 High Risk)

Characteristics:

• No formal AI testing process
• Manual spot-checking only
• No documentation of safety requirements
• Reactive incident response
• "Test in production" mentality

Typical behaviors:

• "Let's ship and see what happens"
• "We'll fix bugs as users report them"
• "We tested it with 10 queries, looks good"

Business impact:

• Frequent production incidents
• High support burden
• User trust issues
• Regulatory risk

Level 2: Aware (🟡 Medium Risk)

Characteristics:

• Team recognizes AI safety is important
• Some manual testing processes
• Basic incident response plan
• No automated testing
• Inconsistent execution

Typical behaviors:

• "We test important features manually"
• "We have a doc somewhere about safety"
• "Different engineers test differently"

Progress needed:

• Formalize testing process
• Build first test suite
• Document safety requirements

Level 3: Defined (🟡 Medium-Low Risk)

Characteristics:

• Documented safety standards
• Basic automated test suite (50+ tests)
• Pre-deployment checks required
• Incident response playbook
• Some monitoring in production

Typical behaviors:

• "No deploys without passing tests"
• "We have a standard checklist"
• "Tests run in CI/CD"

What's missing:

• Tests aren't comprehensive
• No continuous improvement
• Limited production visibility

Level 4: Managed (🟢 Low Risk)

Characteristics:

• Comprehensive test suite (200+ tests)
• Automated evaluation pipeline
• Production monitoring with alerts
• Regular safety audits
• Metrics tracked over time
• Red team exercises

Typical behaviors:

• "Every model change is evaluated against full suite"
• "We track hallucination rate, bias metrics, latency"
• "Monthly red team sessions"
• "Post-incident reviews improve tests"

Business outcomes:

• Incidents are rare
• High user trust
• Faster, safer releases
• Audit-ready

Level 5: Optimized (🟢 Minimal Risk)

Characteristics:

• AI safety embedded in culture
• Continuous evaluation (every request)
• Automated guardrails
• Real-time anomaly detection
• Self-healing systems
• Industry-leading practices

Typical behaviors:

• "Safety metrics on every dashboard"
• "Automated rollback on quality degradation"
• "We publish our safety framework"
• "Continuous improvement via feedback loops"

Self-Assessment Quiz

Answer these 10 questions to determine your level:

Take the full assessment: 15-question maturity quiz →

Roadmap to Level Up

From Level 1 → Level 2 (1-2 weeks)

1. Document current AI use cases and risks
2. Create basic incident response plan
3. Establish manual testing checklist
4. Run first safety audit

From Level 2 → Level 3 (1-2 months)

1. Build automated test suite (50+ tests)
2. Integrate tests into CI/CD
3. Document safety standards
4. Set up basic production monitoring

From Level 3 → Level 4 (3-6 months)

1. Expand test coverage to 200+ tests
2. Implement RAGAS or similar evaluation framework
3. Set up real-time monitoring and alerts
4. Conduct quarterly red team exercises
5. Track metrics dashboard

From Level 4 → Level 5 (6-12 months)

1. Continuous evaluation on every request
2. Automated guardrails and fallbacks
3. Self-healing incident response
4. Publish safety practices

Which Level Should You Target?

Company Stage	Target Level	Why
Pre-Product	Level 2	Basic awareness and manual testing
Seed/Series A	Level 3	Automated tests, documented processes
Series B+	Level 4	Comprehensive testing, monitoring
Enterprise/Regulated	Level 4-5	Audit-ready, continuous evaluation

Red Flags You're Stuck at Level 1

• 🚩 Production incidents weekly
• 🚩 "We'll fix it when users complain"
• 🚩 No one knows what was tested
• 🚩 Auditors asking for documentation you don't have
• 🚩 CEO/Board asking "Is our AI safe?" and you can't answer

Conclusion

Most companies are at Level 1-2. Getting to Level 3 is achievable in 1-2 months and dramatically reduces risk.

Your next step: