Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly influencing the world as we know it. As new AI tools become commonplace, more businesses will continue incorporating them into their workflows and data analytics processes. A report by S&P Global found that the generative AI market alone will grow 10 times by 2028.
Those who develop or use technology for their job can’t afford to be out of this loop. But with so many changes, how do you know where to start learning about the latest AI technology?
Getting certified in AI is a good place to start. AI certification programs will help you learn what AI is, how it works, and how to make the most of it in business. And with AI’s popularity today, plenty of AI certification options are available.
This guide will cover the top AI certification programs. We’ll cover what makes each unique and how they can help you thrive in the new AI world.
What are the benefits of getting a certificate in AI?Getting certified in AI brings many benefits, from upskilling and job stability to increased pay and career advancement. Some of the biggest ways certifications may help you include:
Career advancement. Many companies are incorporating AI into their businesses, and employers are specifically looking for AI talent. Getting your AI certification can help you set yourself apart from other tech talent and advance your career.
More job opportunities. The AI field isn’t limited to one industry. AI is used in health care, finance, manufacturing, and many other fields. Various AI jobs are also available in product management, data science, engineering, robotics, and data analyst roles. Learning AI will make you valuable for companies in various industries—giving you more job options than you would otherwise have.
Larger salary. AI jobs aren’t just in demand for businesses—they also pay well. There is competition in the AI space for talent. You can get a higher salary if you prove yourself with a project history and certification.
Industry recognition. You’re getting verification from established institutions when you get an AI certification. Global companies recognize these professional certifications as worthwhile and worth looking for when interviewing AI candidates.
Boost your skills. There is a lot to learn when delving into AI. An AI certification will walk you through the ideal way to learn AI concepts and help you improve your skills with instruction sessions, self-paced learning, and hands-on exercises.
Practical experience. A lot of AI certifications use projects to build skills. These certifications allow candidates to turn AI theory into practice by tackling real-world scenarios in their studies.
Keep updated. Industrial technology has always been a fast-changing field. That’s possibly more true now than ever. As the industry changes, getting certified in new processes and programs will help you stay updated with the newest AI tools.
10 Popular AI certification programsMany AI certification courses are available to people who want to learn AI—but a few stand above the rest. Below are 10 of the most popular AI certification programs available.
1. CourseraCoursera works with over 150 universities and offers thousands of online courses, including AI certification programs. You’ll find both beginner and advanced AI programs on Coursera.
For instance, the AI for Everyone and Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) courses are great options for people new to AI. AI for Everyone introduces nontechnical students to AI and how to build businesses and services. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) covers some of the more technical details of AI—such as deep learning neural networks—and a few tips for starting a career in AI.
For specialized courses, Coursera also offers the Deep Learning track. It takes students down the learning path of becoming deep learning experts. It offers the knowledge to take on projects and build their own neural networks.
Many Coursera programs are free. Paid courses are tiered so that people can achieve their goals at their own pace. Guided projects take as little as an hour, many certificates take as long as six months of dedicated time, and Coursera even offers degrees that take 2-4 years to complete.
2. Stanford UniversityStandford AI Labs was founded in 1963, when many computers still relied on vacuum tubes, and has remained a leader in the field. Stanford offers the Artificial Intelligence Graduate Certificate—a complete look at AI and what it offers. It allows students to pick the AI courses they want to cover during their learning experience.
The certificate program requires students to have a Bachelor’s degree with at least a 3.0 GPA. They should also have a good understanding of math (college-level calculus, linear algebra), and be familiar with probability theory and programming languages (JavaScript, C++, Python). The certificate program costs between $18,928-$23,296 (depending on the number of courses you take).
Students start by picking at least one of the two required courses: Artificial Intelligence: Principles and Techniques and Machine Learning. Students can then pick from a list of elective courses covering topics such as NLP, robotics, computer vision, and deep reinforcement learning. Expect to spend 15-20 hours per week on coursework and 1-2 years to complete the program.
These courses will offer students an in-depth and practical look at AI and how to use it in practical applications. For instance, Natural Language Processing With Deep Learning will teach students how to create neural network models to create NLP applications that can process text.
3. IBMIBM gives people looking for an introduction to AI a hands-on experience that helps them learn about current AI technology and how it’s useful today. It offers programs that help students learn about machine learning and use the IBM Watson service to build applications.
IBM AI Engineering is a free course that offers students a look at the different types of AI. They will learn about deep learning, neural networks, and machine learning algorithms (classification, regression, and clustering). This course takes a hands-on approach and will walk students through using AI tools (PyTorch, Tensorflow) to build deep learning models.
The course is ideal for students with knowledge of high school mathematics and Python. You can expect to complete the program in two months working about 10 hours per week.
IBM also offers the Applied AI Professional program. This free course uses IBM’s Watson service to help students build AI applications with minimal coding. Students will use Watson to create chatbots and computer vision programs.
This course works well both for beginners with technical and non-technical skills. Expect to finish the course in three months when working 10 hours per week.
Both courses offer college credit to students enrolled in applicable degree programs.
4. MicrosoftMicrosoft has invested resources into AI research (including OpenAI) to position itself as a leader in the industry. Microsoft also offers a comprehensive artificial intelligence certification program.
One of the components of Microsoft’s certification programs is the use of its Azure web services. It offers the Azure AI Engineer Associate certification, which teaches students how to build, manage, and deploy AI applications that make the most of the Azure platform and Azure Cognitive Services. This hands-on course walks students through setting up a cloud environment and deploying AI applications.
Microsoft also offers training material for data scientists wanting to use Azure for machine learning. You can take the Azure Data Scientist Associate course to learn how to set up and configure Azure for training and optimizing machine learning models. This practical course also walks students through configuring a cloud environment for working with AI models.
Once you finish your Microsoft course, you must pass a certification exam to receive the certification. The courses are free to help you prepare for the certificiation exam. The exam costs $165.
5. Deeplearning.aiPioneering machine learning engineer Andrew Ng (who also co-founded Coursera) founded deeplearning.ai. The website offers some of the highest-rated AI certification programs.
Deeplearning.ai offers courses for every skill level. Introductory courses like AI for Good guide students through different modules to learn what AI is capable of and looks at case studies of AI usage today. Some simple computer skills (like spreadsheet manipulation) are useful, but the course is accessible to beginners without a computer background. It’s free to take and will take three months to complete when working five hours per week.
Intermediate and advanced courses are also available for individuals who want to learn more. The Natural Language Processing free course teaches students what goes into building NLP systems and how to use them in practice. Students should have some knowledge of machine learning and intermediate Python programming skill to take this course. It will take four months to complete when working eight hours each week.
There are also options for people who don’t have much time and want to experience new tools. These short courses don’t offer certification but will quickly help you learn something new.
6. LinkedIn LearningLinkedIn Learning offers courses in a variety of fields, from business management to AI. The information you find on LinkedIn comes from AI professionals and includes in-depth courses on AI fundamentals and specific courses covering a single AI topic in detail—and in a format you can consume on your own time.
Artificial Intelligence Foundations is a beginner program that covers how to run AI models. During the course, you’ll learn how to gather and prepare data for training, select and implement machine learning solutions, train AI models on data, and evaluate your results. You’ll also see demos for each action to see how to tackle specific tasks. The course is part of the LinkedIn Learning membership, or available for a $24.99 one-time fee, and will take around two hours to complete.
Look at Deep Learning: Image Recognition for a more in-depth certification. This course dives into the world of computer vision from start to finish until you’re ready to train an image model to recognize objects in an image. You should have some knowledge of Python for using Tensorflow for the course. You can view the course if you’re part of LinkedIn Learning, or pay a $34.99 one-time fee. It will take around one hour and 45 minutes to complete.
The LinkedIn Learning membership program costs $19.99 per month when billed annually (with a free one-month trial).
7. UdacityUdacity is an online course platform known for its wide range of courses on computer science. It covers AI, as well as topics related to computer programming, product management, and business.
AI Programming With Python is an introductory course that focuses on hands-on AI projects using the Python programming language. The course teaches students how to program with Python, the math behind AI (such as linear algebra and calculus), and how to combine the two to create practical AI applications in Python. The course should take three months when working 10 hours per week. Students should have basic algebra and programming knowledge before taking this course.
You can also use Udacity to learn about how AI relates to specific industries. The AI in Healthcare course talks about how specific types of AI help with health care—such as computer vision helping with medical diagnostics. This course will take four months to complete when working 15 hours per week. Students should have an intermediate level of Python knowledge and understand basic machine-learning tasks.
Udacity offers monthly pricing when taking courses. You pay $399 per month while you’re enrolled and stop paying once you complete your education.
8. edXedX is an education platform that offers courses for every discipline required to get a job. Although there isn’t a specific focus on technology, edX partners with schools and businesses to offer several free audit tracks and paid AI certification programs to interested students.
The Deep Learning Fundamentals course teaches students about the different types of AI and how to build and train those AI systems. You’ll use tools like PyTorch and TensorFlow to build, run, and optimize their models. Students should have an understanding of Python to use these tools. It will take seven months to complete this course when working 2-4 hours per week. You’ll pay $39 per month while taking the course.
edX also offers practical examples using modern programming languages for software developers. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence With Python walks students through using Python to design intelligent AI systems that can solve real problems. You should have previous Python programming experience before taking this course. It will take seven weeks to complete when working 10-30 hours per week. The course material has a one-time fee of $249.
9. Google AIGoogle has long been a leader in AI research. The company publishes hundreds of peer-reviewed papers every year, many specifically on the topic of AI. Google created several AI certification courses to help new AI engineers learn how to break into the field and learn practical applications.
The Machine Learning Crash Course is a free introduction to machine learning, with practical examples and real-world case studies. Students will learn how to build AI models and use them to represent data useful for applications. Course students should have previous experience with Python (using the pandas and NumPy libraries). It will take 15 hours to complete the course.
Google also offers courses that walk students through real AI apps in business today. The Recommendation System course, for instance, walks students through the process of creating a recommendation system for product businesses. Students will create a sample application for movie recommendations in this course. You will need to complete the Machine Learning Crash Course before starting this one. It will take around four hours to complete.
10. NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute (DLI)NVIDIA has had a stake in the AI space for a long time. It provides the GPU power many large AI companies use to train and run machine learning models.
NVIDIA offers many training certifications to help new AI users get up to speed. NVIDIA’s Fundamentals of Deep Learning course dives into deep learning techniques and will help students gain experience with tasks like image classification and object detection. Students should have basic programming skills before starting the course. It costs $90 and will take eight hours to complete.
NVIDIA also offers the Building Transformer-Based Natural Language Processing course for individuals wanting to use transformer models for NLP processing. This course walks students through the process of building a transformer neural network, training it to recognize entities in text, and deploying the application on NVIDIA’s Triton platform. Students need an understanding of machine learning, neural networks, and Python before taking this course. It’s currently invitation-only and will take eight hours to complete if you get in.
Showcase your AI skills on UpworkIn a world increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence, you shouldn’t put off learning all you can about new AI technologies. The good news is that you have several options to start learning—from free basic certifications from Coursera to graduate certifications from Standford. Look more into the AI certifications above to start learning AI.
If you’ve completed your AI coursework, advanced your skills, and are ready to put your AI skills to use, sign up to browse freelance AI jobs on Upwork to get your first clients.
If you want to find talent for your next project to develop your business’s AI strategy, hire AI professionals on Upwork to find the right freelancer for your needs.
Disclosure: Upwork is an OpenAI partner, giving OpenAI customers and other businesses direct access to trusted expert independent professionals experienced in working with OpenAI technologies.
Upwork does not control, operate, or sponsor the other tools or services discussed in this article, which are only provided as potential options. Each reader and company should take the time to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.
Prices are current at the time of writing and may change over time based on each service’s offerings.
Source: Global Inc.
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