← Back to Free Stuff

Free Guide

The AI
Adoption Curve

Everyone using AI sits somewhere on the same curve. Five tiers, from people who don't know it exists to people running autonomous agents around the clock. Here's the map, the exact tools at each stage, and the one move that bumps you up.

5 Tiers · Old Schooler → AI CHAD

The Curve

Where are you right now?

Most people are stuck on a tier and don't even know there's a higher one. They found a tool that works, settled in, and stopped looking up. That's the trap.

So here's the honest map. Every stage, the tools that define it, and the single move that gets you to the next. Find yourself, then climb.

One rule before you scroll: the tool isn't the point. The jump between tiers is never about buying more software. It's about using what you already have differently. The CHAD and the junkie can run the same app. One of them just goes deeper.

Find Your Tier

Take the 30-second quiz

Five quick questions. Answer honestly, not aspirationally, and I'll drop you on the rung you're actually standing on. Then scroll to your tier and run its level-up move.

1.When you open an AI tool, you usually…

2.Has your AI ever remembered your work between sessions?

3.Your most advanced tech move this week was…

4.How do you actually talk to your computer?

5."I have an idea" usually means…

0 of 5 answered

Tier 1

Don't know AI exists yet

The Old Schoolers

You run your whole life on Google and Siri. To you, AI is still a sci-fi word, not a tool you could open in the next ten seconds. No shame. Everyone starts here.

You're here if your most advanced tech move today was a Google search.

What you're running now

  • Google, Safari, Chrome, Edge: You search, you click, you read ten blue links and pick one.

  • Siri, Alexa: You ask for the weather and set a timer. That is the ceiling.

Level-up move

Open Claude.ai or ChatGPT and ask it the exact thing you last Googled. That one move drops you into the next tier.

Tier 2

Treat AI like a glorified Google

The Generative AI Junkies

You use AI every day, but only one way: ask a question, get an answer, move on. You have never given it real context, uploaded a file, or pushed it past the first reply. You are getting maybe 5% out of it.

You're here if ChatGPT is open right now and you've never used a Project, a custom GPT, or uploaded a file.

The stack at this stage

  • ChatGPT: The default everyone lands on. Fine for quick answers, terrible if it is all you do.

  • Grok: Fast, wired into X, good for real-time takes and spicy answers.

  • Gemini: Strong free tier, lives inside Google Search, Docs, and Gmail.

Zach's pick: make Claude your daily driver. It writes more like a human, and it is the engine behind every higher tier on this page.

Level-up move

Stop firing off one-off questions. Tell it who you are and what you're working on first, then ask. Context is the whole game.

Tier 3

The middle 50%, starting to go deeper

The Curious Georges

You have figured out AI is more than a chatbot. You are poking at the real features, building things, automating little pieces. But nothing remembers you, so you re-explain yourself in every new chat.

You're here if you've built a custom GPT or opened n8n, but you still paste the same context into every fresh session.

The stack at this stage

  • Claude: Your main thinking partner. Add Projects and custom instructions so it stops forgetting you.

  • Claude Cowork: Claude that works inside your files and runs scheduled tasks, not just a chat window.

  • ChatGPT Projects & custom GPTs: Bundle your context once, reuse it instead of retyping it.

  • n8n: Open-source automation. Wire your apps together so the boring work runs without you.

  • Make.com: The no-code cousin of n8n. Friendlier to start, faster first win.

  • Lovable: Describe an app, watch it get built. Your first real taste of making software.

Zach's pick: Claude Cowork over custom GPTs for anything touching real work. n8n if you want to own it, Make.com if you want it easy.

Level-up move

Pick one task you repeat every week and automate it end to end. The first one breaks the spell.

Tier 4

Unlocked. AI runs in the background of everything.

The AI Demons

You have crossed over. Claude Code runs every day. You talk to your computer instead of typing. And you have realized the secret: AI is just a system of files you control. Your second brain remembers your work so you never start from zero.

You're here if you've stopped typing prompts by hand and your AI remembers your work across sessions.

The stack at this stage

  • Claude Code: The daily driver. An agent that builds, edits, and runs real work right on your machine.

  • Custom Claude Skills: Package a repeatable task once, then run it forever with one command.

  • Custom agents & subagents: Fleets of Claude working in parallel on different jobs at the same time.

  • Wispr Flow: Voice-to-text everywhere. You stop typing and start talking. Roughly 4x faster.

  • Obsidian + Claude Cowork: Your second brain. Plain-text files your AI reads, remembers, and thinks with.

The mental model that unlocks this tier: all AI is, underneath, is a system of files. Own the files and you are tool-agnostic for life. Any plain-text app works, but Obsidian is the one that makes it click.

Level-up move

Build your second brain. Point Claude at a folder of your own files and watch it stop feeling like a stranger.

Tier 5

The AI CHADS. They build whatever they imagine.

The AI Experts

You do not ask whether something is possible. You just build it. You run multiple coding agents side by side, you have autonomous agents working 24/7 while you sleep, and "I have an idea" means "I'll ship it this weekend." This is the top of the curve.

You're here if you have an AI agent running right now, while you read this.

The stack at this stage

  • Claude Code: Still the backbone. You just run more of it, in parallel, on bigger jobs.

  • OpenAI Codex: OpenAI's coding agent. The other half of the two-model workflow.

  • Google Antigravity: Google's agentic IDE. Agents that plan and execute across your whole project.

  • Cursor: The AI-native code editor. Where a lot of CHADS live all day.

  • VS Code: The home base that runs any of the above.

  • OpenClaw: Open-source, self-hosted AI agent that runs 24/7 on your machine and texts you from WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord.

  • Nous Research Hermes: Fastest project in GitHub history to 100k stars. An always-on agent with memory that compounds.

Zach's pick: run Codex or Antigravity as your second agent next to Claude Code. OpenClaw if you want it free and self-hosted, Hermes if you want it on a cheap VPS you chat with.

Level-up move

There is no level-up move here. You are the one building what the next tier copies. So go make something.

The Climb

How you actually move up

Nobody jumps from tier 1 to tier 5. You climb one rung at a time, and each rung is a single habit, not a purchase.

The people at the top aren't smarter. They're just less afraid. They saw a tool, got curious, and pushed one level past where it felt comfortable. Then they did it again.

Pick the tier you're on. Do its level-up move this week. That's it. That's the whole strategy.

Work with Me

Need AI to actually work for your business?

I help businesses cut through the AI hype and build the workflows, automations, and systems that actually move the needle. Direct, hands-on, no fluff.

Work with me