Upskilling yourself can never go wrong. With the current AI/ML explosion, learning the skills needed to use AI (or have a career in it) has become important.
While the domain of AI is endless, with countless things to learn, you can always be ahead of the pack with the courses I am going to list. Whether you are a non-techie or have a technical background, these courses are meant to cover the essentials.
The best part is that all the courses are completely free and help you gain knowledge and experience. Some courses come with certifications to help you in your career.
So without further ado, here are the best free AI courses:
1. Generative AI for everyone
Curated by DeepLearning.AI and taught by one of the most respected professors, Andrew NgGenerative AI for Everyone is a great starting point for most beginners.
It is presented in a clear and understandable way. The course consists of three modules to cover the basics. After this course, you will have an idea about Large Language Modules, Deep Learning and Generative AI skills.
You will be guided through tasks that require generative AI capabilities in your daily life, so you can put it into practice after completing the course. The course is free to access through Coursera, you will have to pay a fee if you need the certification.
Highlights:
- Certification course
- Beginner friendly
- Quizzes and assignments
2. Introduction to Generative AI
Introduction to Generative AI is a free introductory course from Google and is a great icebreaker for people who want to learn how AI works without getting extremely technical. This course will help you cover topics on how Generative AI works and how it differs from other machine learning mechanisms. This course will also familiarize you with some of Google’s AI tools.
The course consists of one hour of learning material. At the end you will receive a badge to confirm your participation.
Highlights:
- Course for beginners
- Not extremely technical
- Short term
- Get to know Google’s AI tools
3. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python
Offered by the renowned Harvard University, CS50’s Introduction to AI with Python develops your skills in many fundamental AI tasks. CS50, the most popular IT course online, is a prerequisite for this course. It is taught by the same professor, David J. Malan who is also one of the most prominent computer scientists.
The course is 7 weeks long and covers topics such as AI algorithms, game-playing engines, handwriting recognition, and machine translation. You will need to spend almost 10 hours or more per week to complete this course. Although this is a beginner’s course, reviewers have pointed out that knowledge of the Python programming language (or another programming language) should help you get through the course faster.
It is available through edX. If you need a certificate at the end of the course (which is optional), you will have to pay for it.
Highlights:
- Detailed learning
- Self study
- Intermediate level course
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4. Practical deep learning
The Practical Deep Learning course, developed by fast.ai, takes people with some programming experience on the path to becoming industrial-grade AI developers. During the course, you will learn about computer vision, NLP, Collaborative filtering, and much more. You will also use many advanced techniques.
Interesting fact: Students of this course have developed an AI algorithm that outperformed Google’s. In addition, the course also includes testimonials from many renowned universities and professors.
Highlights:
- 7-week course
- Professionally ready for learning
- Incredible testimonies
- Learn about different techniques in Machine Learning
5. AI chatbots without programming
Some of the first AI models made available to the public were Chatbots. IBM’s AI Chatbots without Programming gives you the ability to build exactly that without any programming knowledge.
This course is largely a codeless experience as it uses IBM’s own assistant Watson as the backend for the bot you develop. This makes this course beginner-friendly and makes it easy for kids and students without programming experience to get interested in AI.
It is available on the edX platform, so it is free to access and requires an optional premium if you want the certificate.
Highlights:
- Beginner friendly
- Codeless
- Learn how to design chatbots for practical use
6. Transform your business with AI
If you’re interested in learning something specific to your business, such as Microsoft’s AI tools and implementations, Transform Your Business with AI is the perfect choice.
In this course, you will mainly go through how Microsoft puts AI into its tools, products and services, you will also learn how to create a framework for your AI. It consists of four modules, which can all be completed in about 3 hours.
Highlights:
- Learn how to integrate and use Microsoft AI in your business
- Short lesson
- Learn more about Microsoft’s AI tools
7. Data Science: Machine Learning
This is the second entry of a course from Harvard on the list. Unlike some of the others, there is little to no prerequisite for this course. Here you will learn the basics of machine learning and many popular machine learning algorithms.
By the end of the course, you will have built a movie recommendation system and learned how to perform cross-validation to prevent overtraining. All of this will help you build your AI projects and master machine learning.
Highlights:
- Beginners course
- Reduced time spent by 2-4 hours per week
- Build your recommendation algorithm
8. Natural Language Processing with Deep Learning
This course from Stanford University is available for free on YouTube and is designed for people who want to master human language processing in AI models. This course will teach you about Deep Learning and Neural Networks, which will allow you to create your own NLP model by the end of the course.
However, there is a requirement for proficiency in Python, Calculus, Algebra, Probability and Statistics, and basic machine learning. This course is not for beginners, but you will end up developing specialization skills in NLP.
Highlights:
- Numerous conditions
- Average level
- Taught by some of the best professors in the world
9. Generative AI Essentials: Overview and Impact
A free online AI course presented by the University of Michigan. It focuses on the generative AI possibilities, using tools like ChatGPT as an example.
Generative AI Essentials is a short course (3 hours of content) that helps you get up to speed on generative AI tools and how they work and how they can be useful. You can take the course for free on Coursera. To get a certificate, you have to pay a fee.
Highlights:
- Beginner friendly
- No technical background required
- Incredibly short
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Bonus: Elements of AI
Elements of AI is a website dedicated to providing free online AI courses for non-technical readers. It is an initiative of the University of Helsinki and MinnaLearn.
You will learn about the basics of AI, how to build AI, and how to use AI for your business.
AI Certifications
After you’re done learning about AI, you may need a way to certify your mastery of it. This is where certifications come into play. Below I’ve listed a few AI certifications you can earn to help you get started in the industry.
Certifications are completely optional and some can be expensive. Do your research before choosing one.
1. Generative AI LLMs
This certification exam, offered by NVIDIA, allows you to validate your skills in fundamental ideas for creating, integrating, and managing AI-driven applications with NVIDIA products that use generative AI and large language models (LLMs).
The course costs $135 and consists of 50 questions, which you must answer in one hour. The certificate is valid until 2 years once you have taken the exam.
2. Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals
Microsoft’s AI certification exam is a great way to demonstrate your skills in machine learning and Microsoft Azure-related services. You may also be eligible for ACE College Credit, which gives you additional college credit if you pass this exam.
Cost calculation $99This assessment takes 45 minutes. It is a closed book exam and is available in many languages for the convenience of the examinee.
3. AWS Certified AI Practitioner
Amazon Web Services is known for many things, and of course, it includes AI and ML certifications. This exam tests many bases of AI, ranging from use cases to security and compliance of AI systems. This also opens the gate to multiple AI roles.
The exam is available in English and Japanese. It costs €75 and lasts 120 minutes and consists of 85 questions.
To block
These courses and certifications can help you boost your career in AI/ML or simply get familiar with using AI tools to increase your productivity and integrate them into your business.
There are technical and non-technical courses for AI. You can choose the one that suits your use case and your technical skills (if any). Some are advanced while others are for absolute beginners, choose the one you like best!
I hope you find all of the AI courses mentioned useful in your learning journey! Did I miss any of your favorites? Let me know in the comments!
Author Info
Swayam Sai Das is a student exploring the world of Linux as a Intern Writer at It’s FOSS. He is dedicated, as he tries to increase ranks in FPS games and enjoys reading literary classics in an attempt to put on an academic facade.
