Next cohort · October 2026
Every decade or so, a new capability separates professionals — the ones who exploit it early from the ones who catch up later. Spreadsheets. The internet. Data fluency. AI is here now. The window is open. It won't stay that way.
The Ascent is a structured program for professionals who are serious about turning AI awareness into applied capability.
Enrollment closes October 23, 2026
What Cohort 1 said
Pathfinder Cohort 1 · 8 participants · weekly evaluations, August 2026
The problem
What you may not know yet is exactly where it changes yours.
Right now, professionals are in one of three places: they've ignored AI entirely and are hoping it stays quiet, they've dabbled with a few tools and moved on, or they're quietly feeling the pressure to figure this out before someone else does.
If you're reading this, you're probably in the third group.
The challenge isn't access to information. There's no shortage of courses, tutorials, newsletters, and LinkedIn posts about AI. The challenge is application — connecting the right tools to the right problems in your actual work, developing judgment about where AI helps and where it misleads, and building the kind of fluency that compounds over time.
That's what The Ascent is built for.
The program
The Ascent is a four-level program. Each level is sequential and builds on the last. You earn an achievement at each stage — achievements that reflect what you've demonstrated and put into practice, not what you've watched.
Learn the AI landscape, evaluate the tool ecosystem, and identify one real AI opportunity in your own work.
You build a repeatable AI workflow and apply it to a real project. Navigator is where awareness becomes application — where you move from knowing the categories to building reliable habits around them.
Develop the skills to help others navigate AI adoption.
Design and lead AI-integrated systems and workflows.
Each level requires demonstrated competency — attendance, a knowledge assessment, and a delivered project. There are no participation trophies. The Navigator achievement means something because it requires something.
The cohort
You'll work directly with me — Mark Cichonski — not a contractor, not a curriculum I've handed off. I've led data and AI initiatives and deployed AI at scale. I've been inside the initiatives that worked and the ones that didn't, and I can tell you why. That experience is the curriculum.
The cohort stays small on purpose. The learning model depends on everyone participating, and Navigator only works when every seat is filled by someone building a real workflow on a real problem from their own work.
Common questions
Yes. The Ascent is designed for professionals who work with information, decisions, and people — not for engineers or developers. You don't need to know how AI works under the hood. You need to know how to use it in your actual work. If you can use a spreadsheet, you can do this program.
No. If you've completed Pathfinder, you're already placed. If you haven't, a 10-question placement quiz decides where you start. Strong scores go straight into Navigator. Others start with a catch-up session before Class 1, so everyone begins the cohort on the same footing.
Courses give you information. This program produces demonstrated capability. You'll complete a knowledge assessment, deliver a real project from your own work, and earn an achievement that reflects what you've actually done — not what you've watched. The cohort model also means you're learning alongside peers working through the same challenges, which is where a significant amount of value lives.
The AI Navigator achievement is issued upon completion of Level II. To earn it, you must attend all four sessions, pass the knowledge assessment, and deliver your project: a repeatable AI workflow applied to real work. It's an achievement with a standard — one you can explain with specificity and point to with confidence.
Four 2-hour sessions over four weeks, plus approximately 30–45 minutes of work between sessions. Total: roughly 10–11 hours across the program. The bigger investment is the cognitive one — you'll be thinking about your work differently.
Attendance at all four sessions is a program requirement. If a conflict comes up, contact your facilitator before the session. In exceptional circumstances, arrangements can be discussed. Missing a session without notice is not something the program accommodates.
Apply for Navigator
If you've been meaning to get serious about AI — not dabble, not follow along, but truly build capability that transfers to your work — this is the program.
Four sessions. One real workflow, built on your own work.
This cohort includes people who have already completed Pathfinder. The quiz makes sure you have the skills to start alongside them.
Ten multiple-choice questions, about 10 minutes. Your score decides where you start, and your next step arrives by email. Each email address gets one attempt.
Start the placement quiz →Questions before you apply? Send a note directly: mark@datagoldvalue.com