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Artificial intelligence (AI) It’s everywhere these days. It’s inside you telephoneinside you carand sometimes even behind the drive-thru window from your favorite fast food restaurant. And this is just the beginning. Over the next few years, artificial intelligence is poised to advance further and become embedded in the fabric of our daily lives; So understanding how it works has never been more important.

Fortunately, there are tons of great online resources that can help you improve your AI skills and understanding, and we’ve gathered the best of them in this article. So whether you’re a professional looking to improve your skills, a student hoping to prepare for your career, or simply a curious student looking to understand the rapidly evolving technology that shapes our world, there’s something here for you.

Is it the best? All of the courses listed below are either completely free or accessible with a free trial membership. Entertainment!

Of all the introductory AI courses, this is probably the simplest, shortest, and most basic, so it’s a great place to start. Over the course of seven interactive lessons (all taking just a few minutes to complete), the basics of large language models (LLM) and how they do what they do are covered. Don’t worry if you don’t have any previous computer science training. This course is so accessible that even if you’ve never used a computer before, you’ll be able to grasp the basic concepts and leave with a useful knowledge of generative AI.

Another excellent course for beginners is Google’s Introduction to Generative AI. Featuring a 22-minute video and about a half-hour of reading, this lesson is a bit longer and more in-depth than Brilliant’s shorter lessons, but still very approachable. And the best part? If you complete the course and pass the exam at the end, you can receive a certificate that you can display on your LinkedIn profile.

If you’re after a more in-depth and comprehensive course on AI, Google’s AI Fundamentals may be for you. Rather than focusing solely on generative AI and big language models, the course covers the fundamentals of machine learning more broadly, breaking down what AI can (and can’t) and explaining how you can use it in your personal and personal applications. It makes professional life more productive. However, you will need to devote more time to this as the course material takes approximately 10 hours to complete.

Much like Google’s Essentials course, IBM’s Introduction to AI series is an excellent primer on AI in general. It covers everything from deep learning and neural networks to natural language processing, computer vision, and the ethics of artificial intelligence; thus offering a more comprehensive look at artificial intelligence than some other courses on this list. So, if you just want to improve your understanding of AI, not learn ways to use and apply it, this is a good course. For that, check out the next course on our list.

If you have a decent understanding of how AI works and are more interested in learning how to use it in your personal and professional life, Microsoft’s LinkedIn Learning course on AI and productivity is a great resource. While the first few lessons teach you the basics of rapid engineering and AI-powered productivity hacks, the later parts of the class focus specifically on how to use productive AI to make things like PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets.

If you urgently need to strengthen your understanding of AI, we highly recommend this 15-lesson course from Brilliant. It starts with a quick explanation of the basic concepts behind neural networks, but then quickly moves beyond the basics and introduces you to more advanced topics like XOR gates and sigmoid neurons; Moreover, it remains extremely approachable and easy to understand. Don’t worry if you don’t have a computer science background; Brilliant’s courses are always designed so that anyone, regardless of their education level, can immediately dive into and understand the course material.

For anyone who wants to go beyond the basics and get straight into using and building AI, this course is a must. As the name suggests, this course provides you with the tools and skills you need to not only understand chatbots, but also to start creating your own; Moreover, without any coding or programming knowledge. Also, like many other courses on this list, you can earn a certificate if you complete all the courses and pass the exam at the end.

This course from Microsoft not only provides a great introduction to AI and how it works, but also offers some really great practical applications and tutorials on how to use it in your business. It’s primarily focused on how to use Microsoft’s Copilot AI in a business context, but unless you’re running a Windows machine or inclined to use other AI chatbots, don’t write off this topic, which consists of many tips, tricks, and techniques. The features in the course are broad enough that you can apply them anywhere with your preferred AI tool.

For anyone who already has a good understanding of how generative AI works and is interested in learning how to use it more effectively, IBM’s 7-hour course on agile engineering is a great starting point. The curriculum quickly outlines the basics and then dives right into the nitty-gritty details of how to get AI to produce exactly what you want. Along the way, you’ll also be introduced to the tools and techniques that professional knowledge engineers use to achieve better results.