Guide to Online Artificial Intelligence Certificate Programs

Certificate Program vs. Bootcamp?

The way we see it, all bootcamps are certificate programs — students who successfully complete one are awarded a certificate — but not all certificate programs are bootcamps. In general, you can expect non-bootcamp certificate programs to distinguish themselves from the artificial intelligence and machine learning bootcamps out there by being shorter, less intensive, less expensive, and geared towards different audiences.

Shorter: While AI bootcamps can entail three or more months of 20+ hours of instruction per week, a non-bootcamp AI certificate program will generally be shorter, if not in the total length of the program, then at least in the amount of time devoted to learning each week.

Less intensive: As would be expected with a reduced run-time, a non-bootcamp AI certificate program will often not dive as deeply into the material as an AI or machine learning bootcamp would.

Less expensive: A non-bootcamp AI certificate program generally won’t be as costly as a bootcamp, with tuition often running in the hundreds and thousands of dollars, not the tens of thousands you would expect with a bootcamp.

Geared towards different audiences: Bootcamps are most frequently geared to aspiring artificial intelligence engineers, machine learning engineers, and data scientists, promising all the training needed to land an entry-level position. If that sounds like you, you can dive deeper with our bootcamp guide. The motivations of those attending non-bootcamp artificial intelligence certificate programs, by contrast, are more varied, largely depending on where the student is in their career.

Exploring a career in artificial intelligence

Due to their relative affordability and low time commitment, non-bootcamp certificate programs are a great option for those who are AI-curious but not ready to take the plunge with a more expensive and time-intensive bootcamp or degree program. A certificate program might not always make you job-ready, and it almost certainly won’t let you jump into a senior artificial intelligence engineer, machine learning engineer, or data scientist role. It will, however, generally offer high-level exposure to the fundamental concepts of artificial intelligence and machine learning and might even give you a glimpse of the day-to-day existence of artificial intelligence professionals so you can prototype a potential career path in a risk-free environment. For role research, compare our guides to artificial intelligence engineer jobs and how to become a machine learning engineer.

Adding a skill set to boost job performance

Non-bootcamp certificate programs are also great options for those already working as a product manager, a data analyst, or in information technology (IT) who aren’t able to sacrifice the time to take a bootcamp or go to graduate school, but could level up their performance in their current jobs by adding AI skills.

Managing AI operations

Some certificate programs teach C-suite level executives and other senior managers the basics of artificial intelligence and machine learning so that these leaders can more successfully oversee the implementation of AI solutions in their businesses. Often, these programs will spend time on how artificial intelligence tools can be applied in various areas of business, including operations, human resources, and marketing.

What’s our approach?

Given the wide variation in target audience, use case, and curriculum, a simple ranking of AI certificate programs would mean comparing apples and oranges. Instead, below we offer our picks for the best programs for learners in particular situations.

BerkeleyExecEd’s Artificial Intelligence: Business Strategies and Applications

Artificial Intelligence: Business Strategies and Applications, offered through a partnership of UC Berkeley Executive Education and Emeritus, offers a comprehensive curriculum covering basics of machine learning; deep learning and neural networks; computer vision, natural language processing, and robotics; and actionable AI strategies and best practices for business. Through live online instruction, students learn from real-world case studies before applying their learnings through a capstone business challenge project.

In addition to C-suite and other senior executives, this program can help mid-level professionals working in data science and business analytics begin building out their AI skill-sets. Alumni can take advantage of a host of benefits including local networking events and an annual conference.

Duration:

2 months, 4-6 hours per week

Modality:

Online with live teaching sessions

Cost:

$2,800

Wharton’s AI for Decision Making: Business Strategies and Applications

Wharton’s AI for Decision Making: Business Strategies and Applications, offered in partnership with Simplilearn, covers much of the same material as Berkeley’s AI course — machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, industry use cases — but organizes itself by business area. After addressing AI fundamentals, students take units on AI in marketing, AI in finance, and AI in HR. Though this is a novel way of structuring the curriculum, it leaves open the potential that course content will be irrelevant to some learners for long periods over the course of the program.

Duration:

3 months

Modality:

Online with live masterclasses

Cost:

$2,800

DeepLearning.AI’s AI for Everyone

AI for Everyone, taught by DeepLearning.AI founder Andrew Ng and offered for free on Coursera, offers a quick, risk-free dive into the world of AI and its potential to transform companies. In 10 hours or less, students will gain an understanding of basic AI vocabulary, current and future capabilities, and basic tools for working with AI professionals within their companies.

Duration:

10 hours

Modality:

Online, self-paced

Cost:

Free

IBM’s Professional Certificate in Applied AI

IBM’s Professional Certificate in Applied AI offers a comprehensive introduction to key AI concepts and training in how to build machine learning models for image classification, deploy virtual assistants, and create a computer vision web application. The course also offers an introduction to using Python for data science. The only drawback to IBM’s program, in our minds, is the requirement that students learn IBM-branded tools like Watson.

Duration:

5 months, 3–6 hours per week

Modality:

Online, self-paced

Cost:

$524

DeepLearning.AI and Stanford University’s Machine Learning Specialization

DeepLearning.AI and Stanford University’s Machine Learning Specialization, offered on Coursera, offers an introduction to basic machine learning concepts like supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning and teaches students how to build machine learning models using the Python programming language. Learners focused specifically on certificates can also compare our online machine learning certificate programs guide.

Duration:

3 months, 9 hours per week

Modality:

Online, self-paced

Cost:

Free to audit; Coursera subscription required ($49/month) required for certificate

LinkedIn’s Getting Started with AI and Machine Learning

Those researching career paths likely already spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, which is all the more reason to take advantage of LinkedIn Learning’s Getting Started with AI and Machine Learning learning path. Perfect for those without prior technical knowledge, this set of courses introduces learners to the basics of AI, explores how it’s making a difference in businesses today, and offers rudimentary training in using the Python programming language for machine learning and natural language processing.

Duration:

20 hours

Modality:

Online, self-paced

Cost:

Included with LinkedIn Learning membership ($29.99)

Google AI Education

Google AI’s educational resource page offers a wide variety of resources relevant to business executives, data scientists, software engineers, and students alike. Among these are Google’s AI for Social Good Guide; an Introduction to Federated Learning, a form of machine learning model training that takes place on users’ devices; and a course on clustering. Google also offers a Machine Learning Crash Course using TensorFlow, with 15 hours of instruction featuring real-world case studies spread out over 25 lessons.