The most useful AI certifications in 2026 are cloud exams such as AWS Certified AI Practitioner ($100), AWS Machine Learning Engineer Associate, Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer and Microsoft's new Azure AI credentials, plus governance credentials such as the IAPP AIGP ($799). Beginners can start with Google AI Essentials, a self-paced course that costs $49 a month on Coursera.
AI certifications compared
| Certification | Provider | Level | Exam fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Certified AI Practitioner | Amazon Web Services | Foundational | $100 |
| AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate | Amazon Web Services | Associate | $150 |
| AWS Certified Generative AI Developer - Professional | Amazon Web Services | Professional | $300 |
| Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals | Microsoft | Fundamentals | Varies by country |
| Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate | Microsoft | Intermediate (Associate) | Varies by country |
| Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer | Google Cloud | Professional | $200 |
| Google Cloud Generative AI Leader | Google Cloud | — | $99 |
| Databricks Certified Machine Learning Associate | Databricks | Associate | $200 |
| Databricks Certified Generative AI Engineer Associate | Databricks | Associate | $200 |
| NVIDIA-Certified Associate: Generative AI LLMs | NVIDIA | Associate (entry-level) | $125 |
| Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional | IAPP | — | $799 |
| ISACA Advanced in AI Audit | ISACA | Advanced (requires existing qualifying credential) | $599 |
| ISACA Advanced in AI Security Management | ISACA | Advanced (requires CISM or CISSP) | $599 |
| Google AI Essentials | Beginner | $49 | |
| Machine Learning Specialization | DeepLearning.AI and Stanford Online | Beginner | $49 |
| IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate | IBM | Intermediate | Coursera subscription |
Fees are list prices from each provider. Microsoft prices exams by country, so no single U.S. figure is published.
What changed in 2026
- AWS stopped offering this $300 exam after March 31, 2026. Current holders stay certified for three years from the date they earned it.
- Microsoft retired the AI-900 and AI-102 exams on June 30, 2026, replacing them with AI-901 (Azure AI Fundamentals) and AI-103 (Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate).
- AWS moved its Machine Learning Engineer Associate exam to a new version, MLA-C02, in beta from September 29, 2026.
Certification or degree?
A certification proves you can use one platform or framework; a degree builds the math, statistics and computer science that transfer across them. Certifications pair well with a degree or with work experience. Compare full programs in our online AI master's ranking and AI certificate programs. Data scientists earned a median $120,230 in May 2025, and BLS projects the field to grow 34.6% from 2025 to 2035.
Cloud AI and machine learning certifications
AWS Certified AI Practitioner
- Level: Foundational
- Exam: AIF-C01
- Questions: 65 (50 scored, 15 unscored)
- Time: 90 minutes
- Passing score: 700 on a 100 to 1,000 scale
- Cost: $100 at a Pearson VUE test center or online.
- Prerequisites: None required. AWS aims it at people with up to six months of exposure to AI and machine learning on AWS.
- Validity: 3 years; recertify by passing the latest exam or earning AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate.
AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate
- Level: Associate
- Exam: MLA-C02 (updated version, in beta since Sept 29, 2026; beta listed with code ME1-C02); MLA-C01 remains only in Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese until MLA-C02 GA
- Questions: 65 on MLA-C01; 85 on the MLA-C02 beta
- Time: 130 minutes on MLA-C01; 170 minutes on the MLA-C02 beta
- Passing score: 720 on a 100 to 1,000 scale
- Cost: The MLA-C01 exam cost $150; its last English test date was September 28, 2026. The replacement MLA-C02 is in beta at $75, and AWS has not yet announced its regular price or launch date.
- Prerequisites: At least 1 year of experience using Amazon SageMaker AI, Amazon Bedrock, and other ML engineering AWS services, plus at least 1 year in a related role.
- Validity: 3 years; recertify by passing the latest version of the exam.
AWS Certified Generative AI Developer - Professional
- Level: Professional
- Exam: AIP-C01
- Questions: 75 (65 scored, 10 unscored)
- Time: 180 minutes
- Passing score: 750 on a 100 to 1,000 scale
- Cost: $300 at a Pearson VUE test center or online.
- Prerequisites: None required. AWS aims it at people with 2 or more years of building production applications and 1 year of hands-on generative AI work.
Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals
- Level: Fundamentals
- Exam: AI-901 (replaced AI-900, which retired June 30, 2026)
- Questions: Microsoft says most of its exams have 40 to 60 questions
- Time: 45 minutes
- Passing score: 700
- Cost: Microsoft sets the price by the country where you take the exam.
- Prerequisites: No formal prerequisite; conceptual knowledge of AI solutions in Azure, knowledge of Python coding syntax, familiarity with Azure resources.
- Validity: Does not expire (Fundamentals certifications don't expire).
Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate (successor to Azure AI Engineer Associate / AI-102)
- Level: Intermediate (Associate)
- Exam: AI-103 (AI-102 / Azure AI Engineer Associate retired June 30, 2026)
- Questions: Microsoft says most of its exams have 40 to 60 questions
- Time: 120 minutes
- Passing score: 700
- Cost: Microsoft sets the price by the country where you take the exam.
- Prerequisites: Experience developing apps using Python; familiarity with general AI, generative AI, and Azure services.
- Validity: Expires annually; renew by passing a free online assessment on Microsoft Learn.
Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer
- Level: Professional
- Questions: 50-60 multiple choice and multiple select
- Time: 2 hours
- Cost: $200 registration fee plus tax where applicable; online-proctored or onsite at a test center.
- Prerequisites: None required; recommended 3+ years of industry experience including 1+ year designing and managing solutions using Google Cloud.
- Validity: Renew by retaking the exam, starting 60 days before your certification lapses; each renewal adds two years.
Google Cloud Generative AI Leader
- Questions: 50-60 multiple choice
- Time: 90 minutes
- Cost: $99 registration fee plus tax where applicable; online-proctored or onsite-proctored.
- Prerequisites: None; intended for anyone in any job role, with or without hands-on technical experience.
- Validity: 3 years
Platform and vendor AI certifications
Databricks Certified Machine Learning Associate
- Level: Associate
- Questions: 48 scored multiple-choice
- Time: 90 minutes
- Cost: $200 registration fee; online or test center.
- Prerequisites: None required. Databricks recommends related training and at least six months of hands-on machine learning experience.
- Validity: 2 years; recertify by taking the current version of the exam.
Databricks Certified Generative AI Engineer Associate
- Level: Associate
- Questions: 45 scored multiple-choice
- Time: 90 minutes
- Cost: $200 registration fee; online or test center.
- Prerequisites: None required. Databricks recommends related training and at least six months of hands-on generative AI experience.
- Validity: 2 years; recertify by taking the current version of the exam.
NVIDIA-Certified Associate: Generative AI LLMs
- Level: Associate (entry-level)
- Exam: NCA-GENL
- Questions: 50-60 multiple-choice
- Time: 1 hour
- Cost: $125, taken online through Certiverse. English only.
- Prerequisites: A basic understanding of generative AI and large language models.
- Validity: 2 years from issuance; recertify by retaking the exam.
AI governance, audit and security certifications
Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional (AIGP)
- Exam: AIGP
- Questions: 100
- Time: 2.75 hours
- Passing score: 300 on a 100 to 500 scale
- Cost: The exam costs $799, or $649 for IAPP members. To keep the certification, you also need IAPP membership ($295 a year) or a $250 maintenance fee per certification term.
- Validity: Meet IAPP's continuing education requirements and either pay a $250 maintenance fee per certification term or keep an IAPP membership ($295 a year).
ISACA Advanced in AI Audit (AAIA)
- Level: Advanced (requires existing qualifying credential)
- Exam: AAIA
- Questions: 90 multiple-choice
- Time: 2.5 hours (150 minutes)
- Passing score: 450 on a 200 to 800 scale
- Cost: $599, or $459 for ISACA members, plus a $50 application fee.
- Prerequisites: Active CISA, or CIA, US CPA, ACCA/FCCA, Canadian CPA, Australian CPA/FCPA, or Japanese CPA with an IT audit or IT advisory focus (plus other listed CA designations).
- Validity: Maintain with minimum 10 CPE annually and 30 CPE per 3-year period, plus annual maintenance fee (US$20 members / US$35 non-members).
ISACA Advanced in AI Security Management (AAISM)
- Level: Advanced (requires CISM or CISSP)
- Exam: AAISM
- Questions: 90 multiple-choice
- Time: 2.5 hours (150 minutes)
- Passing score: 450 on a 200 to 800 scale
- Cost: $599, or $459 for ISACA members, plus a $50 application fee.
- Prerequisites: Active CISM or CISSP certification.
- Validity: Maintain with minimum 10 CPE annually and 30 CPE per 3-year period, plus annual maintenance fee (US$20 members / US$35 non-members).
AI course certificates (no proctored exam)
Google AI Essentials
- Level: Beginner
- Time: Under 5 hours, according to Google
- Cost: $49 a month through Coursera in the U.S. and Canada after a 7-day free trial. It may cost less in other countries.
- Prerequisites: No experience required.
Machine Learning Specialization (DeepLearning.AI & Stanford Online)
- Level: Beginner
- Time: About 2 months at 10 hours a week (3 courses)
- Cost: $49 a month through a Coursera subscription; Coursera offers financial aid.
- Prerequisites: Basic coding (for loops, functions, if/else) and high school-level math (arithmetic, algebra).
IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate
- Level: Intermediate
- Time: About 4 months at 10 hours a week (13 courses)
- Cost: Included with a Coursera subscription.
- Prerequisites: Working knowledge of Python and Jupyter Notebooks; high school mathematics or math for machine learning.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI certification for beginners?
Google AI Essentials needs no experience and costs $49 a month on Coursera. For a proctored exam, AWS Certified AI Practitioner ($100) targets people with up to six months of AI exposure on AWS.
What is the best AI certification for engineers?
AWS Machine Learning Engineer Associate, Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer and Microsoft's Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate test production ML and generative AI skills on each cloud.
Are there AI certifications for security and governance professionals?
Yes. The IAPP AIGP covers AI governance, ISACA's AAIA covers AI audit for CISA holders and similar, and ISACA's AAISM covers AI security management for CISM or CISSP holders.
Is the AWS Machine Learning Specialty still available?
No. AWS's last exam date was March 31, 2026; existing holders stay certified for three years from the date they earned it.
Do AI certifications expire?
Most proctored AI certifications are valid two or three years. Databricks and NVIDIA credentials last two years; AWS AI Practitioner and Google Cloud Generative AI Leader last three. Course certificates such as Google AI Essentials list no expiry.
Sources
Exam, price and renewal details come from each issuer's official pages, checked October 2026. Issuers change prices and exam versions, so confirm before you register.
- aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-ai-practitioner
- docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/ai-practitioner-01/ai-practitioner-01
- aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-machine-learning-engineer-associate
- docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/machine-learning-engineer-associate-02/machine-learning-engineer-associate-02
- aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-generative-ai-developer-professional
- docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/ai-professional-01/ai-professional-01
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/azure-ai-fundamentals
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/resources/study-guides/ai-900
- techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/skills-hub-blog/the-ai-job-boom-is-here-are-you-ready-to-showcase-your-skills/4494128
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/exams/ai-901
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/support/exam-duration-exam-experience
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/azure-ai-apps-and-agents-developer-associate