CSUN
The case for teaching AI judgment is usually made about employers. In a business college the sharper case is about firms — because adoption is already high, capability is not, and the published bottleneck is training.
76% of small businesses use AI. 84% name efficiency and productivity as the main benefit — and 73% say they would benefit from more training and implementation support.
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices — 1,256 owners surveyed by Babson College and David Binder Research, January–February 2026.
60% of small businesses use AI platforms, up from 23% in 2023. Generative AI use rose from 40% to 58% in a single year.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Empowering Small Business: The Impact of Technology on U.S. Small Business, August 2025.
37% of firms with 250 or more employees use AI, against under 20% of firms with fewer than five. Between December 2025 and May 2026 use rose among firms with at least 20 employees and did not move for the smallest ones.
U.S. Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey, December 2025–May 2026.
A graduate who can use AI with judgment is useful to an employer. A graduate who can also teach it is useful to a small firm that has the tools and nobody who knows how to use them — which, by the numbers above, is most of them. It is also the position a founder is in on day one.
That is what the ladders are for, and it is why the student ladder ends in an Ambassador program rather than a certificate. Teaching something is the fastest way to find out what you actually understand, and it is the only way this reaches people who would never start on their own.
Sixteen exercises, four or five hours, at your own pace. Ends in a short write-up and, if you want it, an Ambassador application.
The rationale behind the five rungs, the evidence each design decision rests on, and what the Ladder does not claim.
Student, research, teaching, staff, infinite — and the Chapman DPT adaptation.