Baseline
Measure the six knowledge areas before the programme starts and identify patterns across the cohort.
For L&D and people analytics
Make AI learning start with the gaps you can see.
An AI training calendar can look busy without showing what people learned. Core-6 offers L&D a consistent knowledge baseline across six areas, so development can address specific gaps rather than assumed needs.
The decision
Separate learning activity from learning evidence
A completed course can show participation. A pulse survey can reveal confidence. Neither necessarily shows whether a person recognises risky inputs, understands a model’s limitations or knows how to challenge an output. A common knowledge assessment adds another piece of evidence.
The six-area profile can help prioritise content for a cohort. It does not prescribe the same lesson plan to every department. L&D still needs to understand the tools, tasks and risk levels that make learning relevant to people’s work.
In practice
Example: planning a cross-functional programme
Assess a cohort with the generic Sova-delivered Core-6 assessment. If output evaluation is a shared gap, teach verification practices and give teams chances to practise in their own workflows. Reassess knowledge later, then examine separate workplace evidence to see whether the learning transfers.
Design
Target the areas where knowledge is weak, adding examples and practice suited to each team’s tasks and tools.
Review
Reassess understanding after learning, and gather separate evidence about behaviour where that matters.
Reading the result
Use a score to guide learning, not label people
The generic assessment gives a common vocabulary for AI foundations, application, risk, data, evaluation and oversight. It does not contain role-specific practical exercises or demonstrate that training has changed behaviour at work.
Where possible, review changes in knowledge alongside relevant observations, manager feedback or separately designed practice. Treat subgroup comparisons carefully, and keep the intended developmental use clear to employees.
For the assessment format and evidence, see the Core-6 product page and the validation account.
The product boundary
The in-market product is the Core-6 knowledge assessment on Sova. Role-based training and practice are employer-led activities informed by the results.
The in-market assessment
See the Core-6 assessment in Sova.
One common AI knowledge assessment for candidates and employees, delivered through Sova.