The AMQ

The AMQ: the Amplifier Quotient

Find out which one you are. About twenty minutes, free, and nothing is asked of you before you begin.

In brief

The AMQ does not test what you know about AI. It tests how you relate to it: what you reach for first, how much you hand over, whether you check what comes back, whether you can defend your own work. You answer thirty-five "what would you do?" scenarios — some about AI, some about ordinary tools like maps and budgeting apps — plus three short questions about your situation. You get a category (Dependent, Avoider, Amplifier), a band within it, two or three named risks, and a roadmap.

Begin — about 20 minutes How to read a result

What it measures

The most knowledgeable AI user in your office can be a Dependent. The least technically informed senior in the room can be an Amplifier. The variable is posture, not knowledge, and the AMQ is built around that distinction. Every question is a scenario with three plausible responses; you pick the one that matches what you would actually do, not what you think is right. There are no trick questions: every AI scenario is one where using AI would genuinely help, so declining is always a missed opportunity, never wisdom.

Two layers of questions. The first has nothing to do with AI — it measures your instincts with any powerful tool: do you define what you want before reaching for it, do you engage when it would help, how much control do you hand over, do you check the output? The second is AI-specific: how realistic your view of what AI can do is, how you feel about it, and whether you are actually doing anything about it. Only the second layer decides your category. The first tells the assessment how deep the pattern runs, which is what places your band.

Reading your result

It arrives in three parts, and Appendix C of the book is the full guide.

CategoryDependent, Avoider or Amplifier. The broad pattern your answers reveal: which trap you currently sit in, or which path you are walking.

BandThree per category. For the two traps, depth: Band 1 is recent or shallow, Band 3 is settled or structural. For the Amplifier, maturity: Apprentice, Practitioner, Mentor.

Named risks and roadmapTwo or three specific hazards that travel with your placement, and concrete next steps — with the chapters to read and a retake date.

Dependent bandsThe Drifter · The Habitual Dependent · The Convinced Dependent Avoider bandsThe Postponer · The Principled Avoider · The Structural Avoider Amplifier bandsThe Apprentice · The Practitioner · The Mentor

Three principles for using it well

Read it without defending against it. Your first instinct on an unfavourable placement will be to remember the moments you did engage thoughtfully. Those moments are real; they are not evidence, because the placement is about your default, not your peak. Read it twice: once allowing the defending, once as if it were about a colleague you respect.

Pick one named risk to work on first. The one where you flinched. Two months on that. Then the next.

Retake in six months. A single placement is interesting. A trajectory over two or three years tells you who you are becoming, which is the more important question. Random selection from the question bank means you will not see the same questions twice.

What we ask, and when

Nothing before you start. After your result you can leave an email so the placement is kept for comparison and you are reminded when it is time to retake. That is all; the privacy page says exactly what is done with it. The result is descriptive, not prescriptive: a snapshot of your defaults on the day you took it, in the part of your life where the questions caught you. Every category has a path forward.

Take the AMQ. Read your result twice. Pick a risk. Begin.

In the book, the author's protagonist takes it after three months and lands as an early Amplifier with three named risks. The instrument did its job.

Begin

Questions people ask

How long does the AMQ take?

About twenty minutes: thirty-five scenario questions and three short questions about your situation. There is a progress bar, and you can go back to change an answer.

Is the AMQ free?

Yes, and nothing is asked before you start. After the result you can optionally leave an email so the placement is kept for your six-month retake.

What is a good AMQ result?

There is no pass mark. The result is a description of your current defaults. An honest Drifter who applies the framework ends up better off than an Apprentice who reads the result and decides they are done.

Can I game it?

If you understand the Amplifier response well enough to pick it consistently, you have internalised the thinking; the gap between knowing and doing is real but is addressed by the retake and the book. Option order is randomised and the questions are scenarios, not statements.

What if my answers do not fit one type?

If no type clearly dominates, the result says so and names it as "no settled approach" — which usually means you do not yet have a consistent way of working, not that you have found a balance.

Why does it ask whether people report to me?

Because the Structural Avoider band is defined by authority: avoidance with a team underneath you is a different placement from avoidance alone, and the assessment cannot tell from scenarios alone.