Skip to main content

The 4D Framework

📖 Lesson content

What you’ll learn

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

  • Explain the basic AI Fluency Framework and its core "4Ds": Delegation, Description, Discernment, and Diligence

The 4D framework

(5 minutes)

This video introduces the four core competencies of AI Fluency, or the "4Ds": Delegation, Description, Discernment, and Diligence.

  • Delegation: Thoughtfully deciding what work to do with AI vs. doing yourself
  • Description: Communicating clearly with AI systems
  • Discernment: Evaluating AI outputs and behavior with a critical eye
  • Diligence: Ensuring you interact with AI responsibly

iterate

Delegation: pick AI tasks

Description: write clear prompts

Discernment: evaluate output

Diligence: verify and own results

We explore how these competencies work together across different ways of engaging with AI, and why developing these skills prepares you for whatever AI evolution brings next.

Key takeaways

  • AI Fluency means engaging with AI in ways that are effective, efficient, ethical, and safe
  • There are three primary ways we engage with AI:
    • Automation: AI executes specific tasks based on your instructions
    • Augmentation: You and AI collaborate as creative thinking and task execution partners
    • Agency: You guide AI to work independently on your behalf, shaping its knowledge and behavior rather than specific actions
  • The AI Fluency Framework consists of four core competencies (the 4Ds):
    • Delegation: Deciding what work to do with AI vs. yourself
    • Description: Communicating effectively with AI systems
    • Discernment: Evaluating AI outputs critically
    • Diligence: Ensuring responsible AI collaboration
  • These competencies apply across all three ways of working with AI
  • Developing these competencies prepares you for evolving AI capabilities

Exercises

Exercise 1: Apply the 4D's

Estimated time: 5 minutes

Pick one of these collaboration scenarios and consider how you might apply the 4D Framework:

Communication project

You're working with an AI assistant to draft a series of emails for a marketing campaign.

  • Delegation: What aspects of this project would you handle yourself vs. collaborate on with AI?
  • Description: How would you communicate your vision for the campaign's tone, purpose, and success criteria to the AI?
  • Discernment: What criteria would help you evaluate whether the AI-drafted emails meet your needs?
  • Diligence: What considerations around transparency and responsibility would be important?

Research project

You're using AI to help analyze a large dataset for a research paper.

  • Delegation: How would you divide the analytical work between yourself and the AI?
  • Description: What context would the AI need to understand about your research question to do its share of the tasks well?
  • Discernment: How would you verify the AI's analysis for accuracy?
  • Diligence: What ethical considerations might arise when publishing AI-assisted research?

Creative project

You're collaborating with AI to develop character concepts for a story.

  • Delegation: What creative elements would you want to explore through AI collaboration vs. develop independently?
  • Description: How might you guide the AI to generate characters that fit your story's world?
  • Discernment: How would you decide which AI-suggested elements to keep, modify, or discard?
  • Diligence: How would you acknowledge AI's contribution to your creative work?

Exercise 2: Explore something you love

Estimated time: 5-10 minutes

Spend 5-10 minutes chatting with Claude about a topic you're passionate about and know well. We will be using Claude across exercises for the rest of the course, but you can also do these exercises with another AI. In fact, it might be worthwhile for you to try the exercises across this course with several AI assistants to get a feel for how they differ.

Instructions:

  1. Choose a topic you know well and enjoy discussing such as a hobby, professional interest, favorite book series, etc.
  2. Have a natural conversation with Claude about this topic, like you would with someone who shares your interest.
  3. Try to notice moments where:
    • Claude enhances your thinking
    • You need to clarify or correct the Claude's understanding
    • Your expertise leads you to evaluate the Claude's responses

Exercise 3: Learn something new

Estimated time: 5-10 minutes

Spend 5-10 minutes asking Claude to teach you about a topic you're unfamiliar with but interested in exploring. See how this experience differs from your conversation about something you love and know well.

Instructions:

  1. Choose a topic you'd like to learn more about.
  2. Engage Claude in a conversation to help you understand the basics of this topic. Don't worry about prompting the "wrong way" or the "right way." Just ask Claude to teach you.
  3. Try to notice moments where the Claude:
    • Offers helpful explanations
    • Provides examples that make abstract ideas concrete
    • Responds naturally to your questions as they arise
    • Explains things where you would want to double check its explanations

Reflection

Before moving on, take a moment to consider:

  • Which of the 4Ds (Delegation, Description, Discernment, Diligence) do you feel most confident in already? Which might need more development?
  • Can you recall a recent AI interaction where the framework might have helped?
  • What specific skills from the 4D framework would most enhance your work or personal projects?

What's next

The next lesson, Deep Dive 1: "What is Generative AI?" is a two-part technical lesson that explains the foundational workings of modern AI, how it differs from previous technologies, and its current capabilities and limitations. This knowledge will provide valuable context for the 4Ds and especially strengthen your Delegation competence.

Feedback

As you progress through the course, we'd love to hear from you about how you are using concepts from the course in your life, work, or classes and any feedback you may have. Share your feedback here.

🎬 Video transcript

Source video: W4Ua6XFfX9w

📜 Click to expand transcript (cleaned + AI-translated)

Core Competencies for AI Collaboration

Hi, my name is Rick Daken from the Ringling College of Art and Design. Now that we've explored what AI fluency means and the different ways we interact with AI, let's dive into the core competencies that help us navigate AI collaboration effectively, efficiently, ethically, and safely.

No matter how you're working with AI—whether through automation, augmentation, or agency—there are four essential competencies that make all the difference. We call them the "Four Ds": Delegation, Description, Discernment, and Diligence.

Delegation: The Big Picture

First is Delegation, which focuses on the big picture. What are you trying to accomplish? What kinds of work are involved? What work should you handle yourself, and where might AI be helpful?

Think about a research project you're working on. You might decide to have your AI assistant review lengthy documents and data, then engage in a thoughtful discussion about the implications and findings, but reserve the critical analysis and final conclusions for yourself.

To delegate effectively, you need to:

  • Understand your goal and the problem you're solving.
  • Recognize what AI can and can't do well.
  • Thoughtfully divide the work between you and the AI.

Delegation isn't just about offloading tasks; it's about having a clear vision and strategically choosing how AI fits into your process. This thoughtful approach is essential for both effective and efficient AI collaboration.

Description: Clear Communication

Next comes Description, which focuses on clear communication with AI. Consider the difference between vaguely stating "make me a logo" versus describing your company's values, target audience, preferred colors, style references, and so on. Or, if using an AI as a tutor, you might take the extra step to specify: "Don't tell me the answer; just help me work through this problem step-by-step so I can better understand the concept."

Description goes beyond just writing prompts. It's about having detailed, context-rich conversations that establish:

  • What you're hoping to achieve and the format of the output.
  • How you want the AI to approach the task.
  • The context and information that the AI might need to best work with you.
  • The tone and style of interaction.

Effective description means articulating your needs and vision in a way that sets up both you and the AI for the greatest collaborative success.

Discernment: Critical Evaluation

The third D is Discernment, which involves thoughtfully evaluating what AI gives you. Let's say you've asked an AI assistant to suggest a marketing strategy. Your discernment comes into play as you assess:

  • Are the facts accurate?
  • Does the reasoning make sense?
  • Do the recommendations align with your brand values and audience?
  • Most importantly, does this output actually help you move forward?

Discernment draws upon your own expertise in a domain and requires developing the judgment and critical insight to separate what's useful from what's not, and to recognize when AI outputs need refinement or should be set aside entirely. Most of our interactions with AI involve small loops of description and discernment: describing what we need, evaluating what we get, refining our request, and so on.

Diligence: Responsible Interaction

Finally, there's Diligence, which focuses on responsible AI interactions. For example, if you are using AI to help write job descriptions or review applications, how are you ensuring fairness and controlling for potential biases?

When making important decisions with AI assistants, consider:

  • How are you verifying the accuracy of the information presented to you?
  • Are you protecting sensitive data?
  • Have you considered how to be transparent about the involvement of AI?
  • Are you willing to be accountable for the AI-assisted work you have done?

Diligence means taking ownership of your AI-assisted work and being willing to stand behind final products created using AI. Diligence is critical for safe and ethical AI collaboration.

Summary of AI Fluency

To recap, AI fluency means developing practical skills, knowledge, insights, and values that help you use AI effectively, efficiently, ethically, and safely. AI fluency includes four key competencies:

  1. Delegation: To decide when and how to use AI.
  2. Description: To communicate clearly with AI.
  3. Discernment: To evaluate AI outputs.
  4. Diligence: To use AI responsibly.

What makes these competencies so valuable is that they aren't tied to specific AI tools or techniques that might become outdated. Instead, they're fundamental skills that will help you adapt and grow alongside this rapidly evolving technology.

🔁 Related lessons

📚 Source & attribution

Was this lesson helpful?

Feedback / ReportSpotted an issue or have an improvement idea?