44 courses open worldwide from 16 providers. The highest rated is Elements of AI from University of Helsinki at 4.6 out of 5.
A plain-language introduction to what AI is, how it solves problems and how machine learning and neural networks work, with no programming or heavy maths.
| Course | Our rating | Cost | Time | Credential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elements of AI | 4.6 / 5 | Free | 36 hours | certificate of completion (free) |
| Applied AI Foundations | 4.4 / 5 | Free | 1.3 hours | certificate of completion (free) |
| Google AI Essentials | 4.4 / 5 | Free | 2.25 hours | certificate of completion (free on Google Skills; included in Coursera subscription) |
| Working in teams | 4.4 / 5 | Free | 24 hours | digital badge (Credly etc) (free) |
| Developing career resilience | 4.4 / 5 | Free | 24 hours | digital badge (Credly etc) (free) |
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A plain-language introduction to what AI is, how it solves problems and how machine learning and neural networks work, with no programming or heavy maths. It closes by looking at what AI means for jobs and society. One of the most widely taken free AI courses in the world.
The step after AI Foundations: learners take a workflow they repeat, break it into steps, find where AI adds value and build a practical plan to use AI across that process, turning one-off prompts into repeatable workflows.
Google's entry-level course on using generative AI tools at work: generating ideas, researching, drafting and speeding up routine tasks. It also covers prompting basics and how to spot bias and other risks. The same course is sold on Coursera, but Google now offers it at no cost on its own Google Skills platform.
An eight-week course on what makes teams work, including virtual teams, team roles, communication and diversity. It finishes with how to talk about your teamwork experience with employers. Completion earns an Open University badge and 24 CPD points.
An eight-week course, about three hours a week, on building the resilience to handle change and setbacks at work. You assess your own resilience, look at outside pressures on careers and set practical goals. Completion earns an Open University badge and 24 CPD points.
Anthropic's flagship tool-neutral course on working well with AI, built with academics from University College Cork and Ringling College. It teaches the 4D Framework (Delegation, Description, Discernment, Diligence) plus a grounding in how generative AI works and effective prompting.
A short path for business users on the basics of generative AI and responsible use, followed by practical work in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. It covers how to write better prompts and how to use Copilot Chat safely inside a work account.
An app-by-app walk through of Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, plus Copilot Chat. Each module focuses on a common work task such as drafting a document, summarising a meeting or analysing a spreadsheet.
A three-hour AWS plan for business and technical leaders covering what generative AI can do, how to plan a generative AI project and how to prepare an organisation for it. It is strategy-focused and light on hands-on tool use.
A free university course that works through the big ethical questions raised by AI, such as who is accountable when AI causes harm, how transparent systems should be, and what fairness means. Each chapter pairs short readings with written exercises that are peer reviewed.
An eight-session course on using digital tools, from spreadsheets to argument maps, to reason more clearly and make better choices. It ends by linking these thinking tools to modern AI. Completion earns an Open University badge and 24 CPD points.
A practical starting course on using Claude for everyday work. It walks through a first conversation, getting better answers, and the main features such as projects, artifacts, skills, connected tools and research, then shows role-based examples.
Applies the 4D AI Fluency Framework to everyday small business work such as customer interactions, back-office tasks and operations. Built with PayPal and small business partners, it covers refining work with AI, being transparent about AI use and keeping a human in the loop.
Teaches how to direct AI agents on more structured, multi-step work. It focuses on giving agents context, defining what good output looks like, setting boundaries, checking results and improving the workflow over time.
A leader-focused course that works through a single AI initiative from business priority to adoption. Learners produce a first-draft AI strategy covering ownership, governance, a roadmap and adoption plan, and practise judging whether the evidence supports moving forward.
Eleven 30-minute courses showing how Gemini works inside Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, Chat, Drive, Vids and the Gemini app. Each is short enough to take on its own, so staff can learn just the app they use most.
A short, plain-language IBM introduction to how AI learns, how people and AI can work together, and the benefits, risks and ethics involved. It finishes with a hands-on task guiding an AI assistant through a simple business problem.
An introductory course that explains why generative AI behaves the way it does, as a companion to the AI Fluency framework. It covers next token prediction, knowledge, working memory and steerability, with hands-on try-it activities, so learners can diagnose odd outputs and fix them.
OpenAI's entry-level course on working with AI at work. Learners pick a real task they do often and practise the basics of clear instructions, supplying context, reviewing outputs and responsible use, while learning how large language models and ChatGPT work.
The self-paced study path for Microsoft's AI Business Professional certification, aimed at non-technical staff. It covers drafting content, analysing data, running meetings and handing multi-step work to Copilot agents. Learners can stop at the free path or sit a 45-minute proctored exam for a formal Microsoft certification.
A seven-module Microsoft Learn path that starts with what AI is and how generative AI works, then moves to smarter web searching, responsible use and everyday use of Microsoft Copilot. It was built under Microsoft's philanthropy programme, so some examples lean towards nonprofit work, but the content suits any beginner.
A version of the AI Fluency course shaped for nonprofit staff, developed with GivingTuesday. It applies the 4D Framework to research, writing, data analysis and workflow design, with attention to privacy and mission alignment.
Helps writers, designers, illustrators, musicians and other makers decide whether, where and how AI belongs in their practice. It starts from a no-AI baseline and adds two lenses (creative value and production) alongside the 4D Framework, with a focus on authorship and distinctiveness.
A short course on spotting AI opportunities in real workflows and deciding which are worth pursuing. Learners weigh likely benefit against implementation effort and write a clear problem statement and solution plan for the strongest idea.
A four-part Google Cloud path that explains what generative AI and large language models are, how prompting works and how to apply responsible AI principles. It is conceptual rather than tool training, which makes it a neutral primer before picking a specific product.
IBM's longer foundation credential covering the main branches of AI, including language processing, computer vision, machine learning, chatbots and neural networks, plus ethics and AI career paths. It suits someone who wants to understand how AI works under the hood rather than just use tools.
A five-course path for managers and decision makers on what generative AI can do for an organisation, how to choose between tools and how agents may change work. It prepares learners for Google Cloud's non-technical Generative AI Leader certification but is useful without sitting the exam.
Andrew Ng's non-technical course on what AI can and cannot do, how AI projects run and how a company can build its AI capability. It is the most widely taken business-focused AI primer and suits managers who need to spot sensible AI opportunities.
A short, non-technical course from Andrew Ng on how generative AI works, what it is good and bad at, and how to use it in everyday work and business projects. It also covers the risks and wider effects on jobs and society.
A hands-on course on having Claude work directly with your files, folders and apps to produce real outputs. It covers running a first task, giving Claude standing context through instructions, projects, skills and plugins, using Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365, and safe habits for sharing multi-step work.
A course for whoever is rolling out Claude Enterprise in an organisation. It works through five linked configuration decisions (structure and identity, access, governance, spend and visibility) using a fictional company, and builds a rollout plan as you go.
A developer course on Anthropic's AI coding agent, from installation to customisation. It covers how the agent loop works, a structured explore, plan, code and commit workflow, context management and extending Claude Code with CLAUDE.md files, subagents, skills, MCP and hooks.
AWS's foundation plan covering AI, machine learning and generative AI concepts, real use cases, responsible AI, prompting and governance. It is more technical than the decision-maker plan and prepares learners for the AWS Certified AI Practitioner exam, which is open to business roles.
A short course that looks at how people and groups actually make decisions, comparing the rational economic model with psychological and sociological views. It also covers how people perceive risk and what can be done to improve decision making at work.
A recorded MIT workshop that introduces AI to people with little or no background, covering machine vision, data preparation and reinforcement learning. It includes a hands-on activity where you train a simple algorithm yourself.
Psychologist Richard Nisbett teaches the everyday statistics, logic and awareness of bias needed to think clearly about evidence. Well suited to judging AI outputs, data claims and business decisions with a sceptical eye.
A 20-minute self-paced module that turns Australian Government responsible AI guidance into everyday steps for not-for-profit staff and volunteers. Its core rule is that the more an AI tool affects people, the more human oversight it needs.
The one technical pick: a free, highly regarded hands-on course that teaches coders to build and deploy deep learning models from the first lesson. It was recorded at the University of Queensland and favours practical results over theory.
One of the most popular online courses ever, teaching evidence-based techniques for learning new skills faster and beating procrastination. Useful for anyone who needs to keep reskilling as AI changes their job.
A practical, highly rated university course on writing better prompts for ChatGPT and similar tools. It teaches reusable prompt patterns and examples you can apply straight away to everyday work tasks.
A rolling calendar of livestreams, virtual office hours and some US in-person workshops run by OpenAI and partners. Upcoming sessions at 29 September 2026 include ChatGPT 101 for government professionals, repeatable AI workflows for nonprofit fundraisers, measuring the return on LLMs, and using ChatGPT for performance reviews, with replays posted for some past sessions.
A free, short course from the non-profit Khan Academy on how generative AI works, its risks and how to use it responsibly, built around teaching and learning. It includes Code.org videos explaining AI basics.
A four-course Google series focused only on prompting. It teaches a five-step method for writing prompts and applies it to everyday tasks such as email, data analysis, building presentations and using AI as a thinking partner.
Google's newer, broader follow-on to AI Essentials, made up of eight short courses built around hands-on work projects. It covers using Gemini for research, writing, content, data analysis and even building simple apps without code.
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