AI Fluency Framework
PatternsDefinition
Anthropic's framework for effective, responsible human-AI collaboration, built around competencies including Delegation (deciding what to hand to Claude versus handle yourself), Description (framing work clearly enough to act on), and Diligence (using AI effectively, ethically, and safely, with the human owning the outcome).
Example Usage
Apply Delegation and Description before prompting Claude on a fuzzy task -- decide what's actually worth handing off, then frame it clearly -- and apply Diligence afterward by reviewing and taking ownership of the result rather than treating Claude's involvement as an accountability shield.
In Depth
Three Named Competencies
Anthropic's AI Fluency framework names specific competencies that recur across how an Associate should work with Claude:
- Delegation -- deciding what to hand to Claude at all, as opposed to handling it yourself or routing it to a person. Not every step of a process should be automated; Delegation is the judgment call about which steps are worth augmenting.
- Description -- framing the work clearly enough that Claude (or a person) can act on it without guessing. This is the same discipline behind writing a well-structured prompt, applied to the earlier step of scoping the work in the first place.
- Diligence -- using AI in a way that is effective, ethical, and safe, with the user owning the outcome. Diligence is the discipline of not letting delegation become abdication: reviewing output for bias, disclosing AI use per organizational norms, and remaining accountable for anything published or acted on.
Where the Framework Shows Up
Delegation and Description surface most directly in requirements-clarification: before prompting Claude to produce a deliverable, use Claude itself as a thinking partner to restate a fuzzy ask, list stakeholders and constraints, surface edge cases, and draft acceptance criteria. Diligence surfaces in evaluation and iteration: diagnosing a specific gap in an output and making a targeted, attributable change mirrors the same 'stay responsible for judging the result' discipline that Diligence names explicitly.
Why It's Not Just a Slogan
The framework matters on the exam because it reframes several separate skills (requirements clarification, iterative refinement, ethical review) as instances of the same underlying competencies, rather than unrelated tips. Recognizing 'this is Delegation' or 'this is Diligence' is what lets the underlying judgment transfer to a new, unfamiliar scenario instead of relying on a memorized checklist.
Common Pitfalls
- Treating AI Fluency as separate advice bolted onto prompting and evaluation skills, rather than the organizing frame those skills instantiate.
- Practicing Delegation and Description but skipping Diligence -- handing off work clearly is not the same as staying accountable for its outcome.