how to learn AI

Start with the free Transform your business with Microsoft AI learning path, which is designed specifically for beginner-level business leaders and professionals responsible for organizational strategy.^1^

Recommended learning sequence

1. Transform your business with Microsoft AI This four-module path requires only a basic understanding of business and IT concepts. It covers:
   • AI tools and underlying concepts
   • Creating measurable business value with AI
   • Responsible AI, governance, and safeguards
   • Scaling AI and assigning responsibilities across an organization
   These subjects are particularly relevant to a government executive evaluating policy, risk, service delivery, governance, and organizational adoption.^1^
2. Introduction to AI for business users Complete this beginner path next. It has no prerequisites and introduces practical business technologies such as Power BI and Power Platform, including AI-driven insights, reporting, and process improvement.^2^
3. Apply each topic to government work After every module, write a short example containing:
   • The public-service problem
   • The data that would be required
   • The expected benefit
   • Privacy, fairness, transparency, and accountability risks
   • The human approval or oversight required
   Suitable starter cases include summarizing non-confidential documents, drafting public communications, classifying citizen requests, and analyzing anonymized service trends. Do not enter confidential, personal, or restricted government information into a public AI application unless your organization has approved it.
4. Continue to technical fundamentals only if needed If the goal expands from managing AI initiatives to understanding how solutions are built, use the current AI-901: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals study resources. AI-901 covers responsible AI, generative and agentic AI, language, speech, computer vision, information extraction, prompting, Microsoft Foundry, and lightweight applications.^3^ This stage is more technical. Microsoft specifies conceptual Azure knowledge, familiarity with Azure resources, and foundational Python syntax and programming techniques for AI-901. Learn basic Python and Azure concepts first if those areas are unfamiliar.

A practical weekly schedule

Allow approximately three to four hours each week:

• Week 1: Basic AI terminology and common workloads
• Week 2: AI tools and potential government use cases
• Week 3: Business value and selecting worthwhile projects
• Week 4: Responsible AI, privacy, fairness, and accountability
• Week 5: Governance, roles, controls, and organizational adoption
• Week 6: Power BI and Power Platform overview
• Weeks 7–10: Optional AI-901 technical fundamentals and exercises

Microsoft Learn also provides hundreds of free AI training modules, so the catalog can be used to explore individual subjects after completing the structured paths.^4^

Training versus certification

The Microsoft Learn materials can be studied free of charge. A certification is separate: completing training does not automatically award the professional certification, and certification exams are typically paid.^5^

Certification is optional for learning. For an executive role, completing the business-leader paths and developing a responsible AI proposal for a real organizational process may be more immediately useful. Consider AI-901 certification later if formal validation of technical fundamentals is important.

References

1. Transform your business with Microsoft AI AI-3017 - Training
2. Introduction to AI for business users - Training
3. Study guide for Exam AI-901: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals
4. How can I use Microsoft to learn AI? - Microsoft Q&A
5. Is this program and free and will I will get a certificate after completion of a course? - Microsoft Q&A