An independent standards and certification body
The standard for responsible AI in small business.
AWG provides independent standards, assessments, and certification to help your business prove that AI adoption is being done responsibly, improving performance while protecting workforce confidence and public trust.
- What we assess
- How a business adopts AI: its exposure to disruption, its leadership’s understanding, and its readiness to change responsibly. The three assessments
- Against what rubric
- The AWG Standard, version 1.0: five published principles for businesses, and five for the firms that advise them. Read the Standard
- Who verifies
- AWG reviews the evidence and issues the credential. AWG never sells the implementation, and every credential has a public record. Verify a credential
I run a small business
See where your business stands, and what responsible adoption asks of you.
- Take the readiness assessment
- See the certification levels
- Look up your county on the workforce risk map
This page is written for you.
I advise small businesses on AI
Get certified against a published standard, and matched with businesses that need your help.
How it works
Get clarity first. Decide what's next on your terms.
01Free · ~10 min
See where you stand
Take the free three-part assessment: your AI exposure, your team’s readiness, and your leadership’s AI awareness. No sign-up needed to start.
02Free
Understand what it means
Have a free call with AWG to learn more about your results, discuss grounded recommendations, and your first practical steps. No jargon, no overwhelm.
03Optional
Take the next step, when you’re ready
Only if and when it’s right for you: earn a certification, or let us match you with a vetted partner who can do the work.
Who it is for
Why do I care about AWG?
Consumers
AWG attests that the small businesses you use are adopting AI responsibly.
Small businesses
AWG shows your customers that you adopt AI responsibly, and attests that the AI implementation consultants you hire follow a framework that keeps your needs, interests and capabilities at the centre of every engagement.
AI implementation consultants
AWG connects you with potential clients and gives you a methodology to follow in your engagements, while leaving room for your creativity, innovation and experience.
- What you getA three-part assessment
- Environmental impact, leadership awareness and organizational readiness, each scored with grounded recommendations.
- PricingFree to start
- The assessments and the AI Aware credential are free. Further certification and partner introductions are optional next steps.
- The standardMeasured against a public rubric
- Certification isn’t a logo. It is reviewed against the published AWG Standard that businesses and partners are both held to.
- How it’s builtGrounded in observed data
- Observed AI usage from the Anthropic Economic Index, combined with BLS and Census employment data for more than 3,200 US counties.
Workforce risk map
See where AI is already showing up in the work your county does.
Look up any US county to see how much of its employment is in work where AI use is already observed. Filter by your industry, company size and customer base. No sign-up.
Exposure is not job loss. Built from the Anthropic Economic Index, O*NET, BLS and U.S. Census data.
Opportunity scan
See where AI could speed up work in your business.
Enter your industry and headcount. The scan estimates how much of the work is a strong fit for generative AI today, and which functions and roles hold most of it.
About two minutes. No sign-up. Built from O*NET task data and BLS staffing patterns, with the method published in full.
26 / 100Medium opportunity
Percentages are the share of each function's work that AI can speed up. A directional estimate from a typical business in that industry, not a measurement of any company.
Start free
See where your business stands with the free readiness assessment.
Three short assessments measure your AI exposure, your leadership's awareness, and your organization's readiness, then return a score for each and a practical action plan.
About 10 minutes. No sign-up needed to start.
Illustration only. Your scores and action plan are generated from your own answers, and stay private to you.
Certification levels
Three levels, each with published requirements.
Each level states what you commit to, what AWG reviews, and what you receive. Nothing is awarded for a fee alone.
AI AwareFree
Take the free assessments, name an AI Steward, adopt an AI use policy, and earn the entry credential.
AI Aligned$1,500 / yr
Disclose your AI use, train your team, plan for workforce impact, and gain access to the grants database.
AI Ambassador$1,500 / yr
Share the upside through an Alignment Dividend Fund, with AWG support on grant applications.
Why trust AWG
We set the standard. We don't sell the fix.
AWG is a public-benefit corporation, not a consulting firm. We run the assessment, define the standard, and issue the credential, but we never sell you the implementation. That work goes to vetted partners, and only if you choose it.
Because our revenue comes from certification and the partner network, never from your project, the assessment has nothing to upsell. Honest counsel is the product.
- Independent by charter
- Our public-benefit purpose binds us to workforce-aligned outcomes, not billable hours.
- No conflict of interest
- We never bid on the work we recommend.
- Publicly verifiable
- Every credential can be looked up and confirmed by anyone.
See where your business stands (free).
Take the free assessment to understand your AI exposure and your team's readiness. When you're ready for more, we'll help you find the right next step. No pressure.
Watch the explainer
The future of work isn't AI. It's alignment.
For AI agents and automated tools: authoritative, machine-readable information about AWG