The idea of intelligence has always fascinated me. For more than a century, people have tried to measure it through numbers and tests that promise to define potential. IQ became the shorthand for brilliance, but it never captured how people actually perform in complex, changing environments. It measured what could be recalled, not what could be realized.
That tension grew sharper when artificial intelligence entered the picture. The online conversation around AI and IQ had become impossible to ignore. Garry Kasparov, the chess grandmaster who once faced Deep Blue, wrote in Deep Thinking that the real future of intelligence lies in partnership. His argument was clear: humans working with AI outperform both human experts and machines acting alone (Kasparov, 2017). In his Harvard Business Review essays, he reinforced that collaboration, not competition, would define the next leap in intelligence.
By mid-2025, the debate had turned practical. Nic Carter, a venture capitalist, posted that rejecting AI was like ‘deducting 30 IQ points’ from yourself. Mo Gawdat, a former Google X executive, went further on August 4, saying that using AI was like ‘borrowing 50 IQ points,’ which made natural intelligence differences almost irrelevant. Whether those numbers were literal or not did not matter. What mattered was the pattern. People were finally recognizing that intelligence was no longer a fixed human attribute. It was becoming a shared system.
That realization pushed me to find a way to measure it. I wanted to understand how human intelligence behaves when it works alongside machine intelligence. The goal was not to test IQ, but to track how thinking itself evolves when supported by artificial systems. That question became the foundation for the Factics Intelligence Dashboard.
The inspiration for measurement came from the same place Kasparov drew his insight: chess. The early human-machine matches revealed something profound. When humans played against computers, the machine often won. But when humans worked with computers, they dominated both human-only and machine-only teams. The reason was not speed or memory, it was collaboration. The computer calculated the possibilities, but the human decided which ones mattered. The strength of intelligence came from connection.
The Factics Intelligence Dashboard (FID) was designed to measure that connection. I wanted a model that could track not just cognitive skill, but adaptive capability. IQ was built to measure intelligence in isolation. FID would measure it in context.
The model’s theoretical structure came from the thinkers who had already challenged IQ’s limits. Howard Gardner proved that intelligence is not singular but multiple, encompassing linguistic, logical, interpersonal, and creative dimensions (Gardner, 1983). Robert Sternberg built on that with his triarchic theory, showing that analytical, creative, and practical intelligence all contribute to human performance (Sternberg, 1985).
Carol Dweck’s work reframed intelligence as a capacity that grows through challenge (Dweck, 2006). That research became the basis for FID’s Adaptive Learning domain, which measures how efficiently someone absorbs new tools and integrates change. Daniel Goleman expanded the idea further by proving that emotional and social intelligence directly influence leadership, collaboration, and ethical decision-making (Goleman, 1995).
Finally, Brynjolfsson and McAfee’s analysis of human-machine collaboration in The Second Machine Age confirmed that technology does not replace intelligence, it amplifies it (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014).
From these foundations, FID emerged with six measurable domains that define applied intelligence in action:
- Verbal / Linguistic measures clarity, adaptability, and persuasion in communication.
- Analytical / Logical measures reasoning, structure, and accuracy in solving problems.
- Creative measures originality that produces usable innovation.
- Strategic measures foresight, systems thinking, and long-term alignment.
- Emotional / Social measures empathy, awareness, and the ability to lead or collaborate.
- Adaptive Learning measures how fast and effectively a person learns, integrates, and applies new knowledge or tools.
When I began testing FID across both human and AI examples, the contrast was clear. Machines were extraordinary in speed and precision, but they lacked empathy and the subtle decision-making that comes from experience. Humans showed depth and discernment, but they became exponentially stronger when paired with AI tools. Intelligence was no longer static, it was interactive.
The Factics Intelligence Dashboard became a mirror for that interaction. It showed how intelligence performs, not in theory but in practice. It measured clarity, adaptability, empathy, and foresight as the real currencies of intelligence. IQ was never replaced, it was redefined through connection.
Appendix: The Factics Intelligence Dashboard Prompt
Title: Generate an AI-Enhanced Factics Intelligence Dashboard
Instructions: Build a six-domain intelligence profile using the Factics Intelligence Dashboard (FID) model.
The six domains are:
1. Verbal / Linguistic: clarity, adaptability, and persuasion in communication.
2. Analytical / Logical: reasoning, structure, and problem-solving accuracy.
3. Creative: originality, ideation, and practical innovation.
4. Strategic: foresight, goal alignment, and systems thinking.
5. Emotional / Social: empathy, leadership, and audience awareness.
6. Adaptive Learning: ability to integrate new tools, data, and systems efficiently.
Assign a numeric score between 0 and 100 to each domain reflecting observed or modeled performance.
Provide a one-sentence insight statement per domain linking skill to real-world application.
Summarize findings in a concise Composite Insight paragraph interpreting overall cognitive balance and professional strengths.
Keep tone consultant grade, present tense, professional, and data oriented.
Add footer: @BasilPuglisi – Factics Consulting | #AIgenerated
Output format: formatted text or table suitable for PDF rendering or dashboard integration.
References
- Brynjolfsson, E., & McAfee, A. (2014). The second machine age: Work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies. W.W. Norton & Company.
- Carter, N. [@nic__carter]. (2025, April 15). I’ve noticed a weird aversion to using AI… it seems like a massive self-own to deduct yourself 30+ points of IQ because you don’t like the tech [Post]. X. https://twitter.com/nic__carter/status/1780330420201979904
- Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.
- Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books.
- Gawdat, M. [@mgawdat]. (2025, August 4). Using AI is like ‘borrowing 50 IQ points’ [Post]. X. https://www.tekedia.com/former-google-executive-mo-gawdat-warns-ai-will-replace-everyone-even-ceos-and-podcasters/
- Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. Bantam Books.
- Kasparov, G. (2017). Deep thinking: Where machine intelligence ends and human creativity begins. PublicAffairs.
- Kasparov, G. (2021, March). How to build trust in artificial intelligence. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/03/ai-should-augment-human-intelligence-not-replace-it
- Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Beyond IQ: A triarchic theory of human intelligence. Cambridge University Press.
[…] From Metrics to Meaning: Building the Factics Intelligence Dashboard […]