I was using AI before most people had ever heard the word ChatGPT.
Back in 2019, I was an early adopter of the expensive stuff — sometimes paying $500 a month or more for a single tool. I saw what was coming and I couldn’t look away. When ChatGPT launched for free, it wasn’t just a tech moment for me. It was confirmation that everything was about to change.
What I discovered almost immediately was that the problem was never the tools. The tools were incredible. The problem was that nobody was translating them into plain English for real people with real businesses. Business owners, agents, contractors, coaches — they were being left out of a conversation that was going to directly impact their livelihood.
That’s why, at Heartwood AI Solutions, we’ve been in the trenches of AI since before it was mainstream. And it’s why, when I heard Myron Golden lay out his 7 Levels of AI framework at the AI Business Summit, I felt like someone had finally handed the whole thing a map.
Why Myron Golden Is Talking About AI
If you’ve spent any time in entrepreneurial circles, you know Myron Golden — the former trash man turned 8-figure business strategist who built his reputation on the 4 Levels of Value framework. Now he’s turned his full attention to artificial intelligence, and his reasoning is simple.
“If somebody said ‘would you rather have bought Bitcoin in 2017 or jump into the AI revolution in 2026?’ I’d say the AI revolution. That’s how big this is.”
He’s not hyping. He’s doing math. His team costs him $100,000 per month. His AI agents cost him under $200 per month. That gap — that leverage — is what he wants every entrepreneur to understand. And his warning is one I’ve been saying for years:
“AI is not going to replace you. Somebody using AI, if you’re not using AI, is going to replace you.”
The 7 Levels of AI — Where Are You?
This framework is the clearest breakdown I’ve seen of where people actually are versus where they need to be. Let’s walk through it.
Level 1: Anticipation
This is the foundation. AI exists. It’s already doing things in the background of your life — powering search results, auto-filling your texts, filtering your emails. Level 1 is about awareness. Most people are passively benefiting from AI without realizing it. The move here is to become intentional. Recognize that AI is not coming. It’s already here.
Level 2: Asking and Answering Questions
This is where most people are right now — and where most people stay. Think of AI as your personal research assistant who never sleeps and never charges by the hour. You’re asking it to write captions, draft emails, research competitors, and answer your questions. This is useful. But here’s the truth: most people at Level 2 think they’re winning. They’re not. They’re just getting started.
Level 3: Assembling Assets
At Level 3, you’re using AI to build things — books, course materials, video scripts, social content, presentations, and digital products. This is where AI starts producing real output for your business rather than just answering your questions. For a marketing agency or consultant, this level can create significant leverage in your content production and delivery.
Level 4: Automations
Level 4 is where your time starts coming back to you. You identify a process, define what goes in and what comes out, and let AI run it. Email follow-ups. Lead nurturing. Appointment reminders. Client onboarding sequences. The key mindset shift here is moving from doing the work to designing the system. You stop being the one who does the thing and start being the one who sets up the thing that does the thing.
Level 5: Agentic AI
This is where the real shift happens. At Level 5, you’re not giving AI step-by-step instructions. You’re giving it an outcome and letting it figure out how to get there. It plans, executes, adjusts, and delivers — with minimal hand-holding. Think of it as a team member who is capable, consistent, and available 24 hours a day. This is what we walked through in our AI Challenge, and it’s the level that most entrepreneurs need to reach as fast as possible.
Level 6: Agent Armies
At Level 6, your AI agents start building and managing other AI agents. One system coordinates multiple specialized sub-systems running simultaneously — a scheduling agent, a content agent, a customer service agent, a reporting agent. All working together. This is where “team of one” stops being a motivational phrase and becomes an actual business model.
Level 7: Your Own LLM
The apex. You build your own large language model, trained on your knowledge, your brand voice, your data. Your AI doesn’t sound like a generic chatbot — it sounds like you, thinks like you, and serves your clients the way you would. This level represents a proprietary competitive advantage that almost no one can replicate.
You Don’t Have to Be at Level 7 to Win
Here’s what Myron made clear — and what I’ve seen proven out in the real businesses we work with: you don’t have to build your own language model to change your life. Even mastering Levels 2 and 3 creates real results. But most people aren’t even being intentional at Level 2.
His mastery definition is one I keep coming back to: “Mastery is your ability to execute effortlessly without the use of conscious resources.” The goal is to get so fluent with these tools that using them becomes second nature — like driving. You don’t think about it. You just go.
And his curiosity quote is the mindset shift that makes it all possible: “The curious will outpace the serious. The only way to be interesting is to be interested.”
The Cost of Waiting
I’ve been in this space since 2019, paying hundreds of dollars a month for tools that most people had never heard of. I’ve watched AI go from niche and expensive to free and world-changing. And the one thing I know for certain is that the window to get ahead is not staying open forever.
Myron put a number on it: “Every 3 months you wait to implement AI in your business, you lose 5 years of market share.”
That’s not a scare tactic. That’s what’s happening right now, in your industry, to your competitors who are moving while you’re still deciding.
At Heartwood AI Solutions, our job is to help you stop deciding and start moving. We help small businesses and contractors go from Level 2 to Level 5 without needing a tech team or a six-figure budget. The curious will outpace the serious. That’s Myron Golden’s promise and our experience.
Ready to find out what level you’re on and what it takes to move up? Book a free 20-minute call and let’s map out your path forward.