AI Upskilling for Product Designers: The E-P-I-A-S × SAE Framework

I made this system after being asked for one. And I know that by the time I publish it, it's not going to be perfectly correct. That said, something is better than nothing right now — so here it is.

I'm presenting this as part of the Design in Tech Report 2026: From UX to AX at SXSW, but I wanted to open source it sooner rather than later. If you're a product designer trying to figure out where you stand with AI — or a design leader trying to upskill your team — I hope this gives you a useful frame.

This will be subject to more than a few changes this year. I know that for sure ;-). —JM

How to Use This

This framework has two axes. The first is "E-P-I-A-S" which is a maturity progression that describes how deeply you've internalized a skill, from Explorer (trying things out) to Steward (setting standards for others).

You naturally progress ❶ E → ❷ P → ❸ I → ❹ A → ❺ S.

The second is the SAE Level which is adapted from the automotive industry's levels of driving automation — which describes how much of your design workflow AI is responsible for.

via CMU

Together they form a matrix. Here's how to navigate it:

1. Start by finding your SAE Level. Use the self-assessment checklist to identify where your current AI usage falls — from L0 (fully manual) to L4 (mostly automated). Be honest. Most product designers in early 2026 are somewhere between L1 and L2.

1. Then find your E-P-I-A-S maturity within that level. Are you just experimenting (Explorer)? Running consistent workflows (Practitioner)? Building systems others rely on (Architect)? Your maturity at your current level matters more than which level you're at.

1. Use the matrix to plan your growth. You can grow in two directions — deeper (E→S within your current SAE level) or wider (moving up an SAE level). Both are valuable. Going deeper at L1 before jumping to L3 is often the smarter path, because the judgment and habits you build carry forward.

BONUS: If you're a design leader, use this to map your team. You'll likely find people spread across multiple SAE levels and maturity stages. That's normal and healthy. The framework helps you have concrete conversations about where people are and where they want to go — without it becoming a race to the highest SAE number.

One important thing to internalize: an S-Steward at SAE L1 (someone who's built organizational standards for ChatGPT usage) is more mature and more valuable than an E-Explorer at SAE L4 (someone fumbling with advanced toolchains). Depth of judgment beats breadth of tooling every time.

Step 1: Find your SAE level

SAE Levels of Driving Automation (SAEJ3016 est 2014)

Let's take learnings for how AI's progression is being tracked best: the automotive industry. The official SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) levels of driving automation describe who is responsible for driving — the human or the vehicle — across perception, decision-making, and control.

Key clarifications (why confusion happens):

• L2 ≠ self-driving — the human is still legally responsible.
• The big legal shift happens between L2 and L3 (who must pay attention).
• L4 works today, but only in constrained environments.
• L5 is theoretical — it does not currently exist in production.

Self-Assess Your Current SAE Level

Note that SAE L2, L3, L4 are all getting blurrier with each other every day as the various tools/systems are vertically consuming each other's capabilities. SAE L5 is aspirational and hasn't happened, yet.

Step 2: Find Your E-P-I-A-S Maturity Stage At Your SAE Level

We start with a generic maturity progression for a learner. HT Monty Hammontree for his advice on this instrument that I changed a teense to create the catchy acronym E-P-I-A-S.

Learner Maturity Stages As E-P-I-A-S

You naturally progress ❶ E → ❷ P → ❸ I → ❹ A → ❺ S. Let's apply this to the conventional non-AI product designer's progression in skillsets.

Non-AI Product Designer Skillset Progression

This bears a parallel to the career progression "ladder" in product design today.

Conventional Product Design Career Progression

Keep in mind that a director or lead can still behave like an "Explorer" by having a beginner's mind. Right? They truly need to have that right now in the age of AI.

Do you get the idea of E-P-I-A-S? Awesome! Now locate your SAE level of operating in the AI era, and situate the stage you might be in right now.

Step 3: Use Your Current E-P-I-A-S Stage Within An SAE Level To Plot A Path To The Next Stage

The goal of AI as embedded in product design work mirrors the evolution of the automotive industry and its levels of automation. SAE L0 is simply "manual" mode for product designers. The goal isn't necessarily to move up automation levels as it depends upon the kind of work you're tasked to do. That said, I think it's always useful to see what kind of work is done at "higher" levels up the food chain.

E-P-I-A-S at Each SAE Level

SAE L0: 🚗💨 Manual

Human-only execution

You do the work. Tools don’t decide or generate.

SAE L1: 🚗➕ AI-Assisted

AI suggests; human decides

AI helps you think and draft, but never owns outcomes.

SAE L2: 🚗🧠 Partially Automated

AI builds bounded chunks; human integrates

AI produces usable pieces, but you assemble and verify.

SAE L3: 🚗😴 Guided Automation

IDE-centric, human-in-the-loop execution

If you close your laptop, the system stops.

Key L3 signal:

SAE L4: 🚕🤖 Mostly Automated

Harness-centric, system-run execution

Work completes while you’re asleep — and you trust the results unless alerted.

SAE L5: 🚗✨ Fully Automated

_Science-fiction, might happen some day_

This is the AGI dream.

Congratulations!

Do you feel a little better now? I hope so! I spent three weekends working on this ... but also have spent the last few decades on this problem, too. I don't expect to fully solve it before I kick the bucket, but I'll keep on trying to improve this system!

This framework is part of the Design in Tech Report 2026. It will be presented at SXSW 2026. Feedback and contributions welcome.