Free online courses for taming artificial intelligence

Generative AI systems such as ChatGPT are becoming more and more important in the world of work. Also, companies like Microsoft, OpenAI, and Google offer free online courses to learn about this technology.

Since its launch, ChatGPT has been eyeing the professional world, be it businesses or freelancers, and they all see it as a way to increase their productivity. While many other AI systems are gradually emerging, such as Bing Chat, Google Bard or Bloom, AI-related skills are becoming increasingly important in the world of work. And if studies predict that approximately 300 million jobs worldwide can be eliminated through generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, then the development of the latter can, on the other hand, create new occupations (see our article).

However, these tools are not necessarily easy to learn, especially for people who are not comfortable with computers in general. It is not instinctive to be able to imagine all the possibilities available, to use the new functions introduced in the work platform – we are thinking of integrating AI into Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace – or to know how to “talk” to chatbots to get the best out of them. Entering the correct ‘prompts’ – a type of command – to describe their desired outcome can make all the difference! To help workers learn this new technology, tech giants like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft have decided to offer free online courses. And this has nothing to do with the training and lessons that influencers sell on social networks!

Free Chat GPT Training: Getting Started with Generative AI

in blog post Posted on June 28, Microsoft announces the implementation of Free online courses on LinkedIn – which belongs to the Redmond company – about artificial intelligence. With this new course, workers will learn introductory AI concepts, including an overview of responsible AI frameworks.explains the company. All users of the professional social network will have access to it via LinkedIn Learning – which includes 16,000 courses, most of which are accessible via Premium subscriptions. to In the end, the participants will receive “The First Professional Certificate in Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Online Learning Marketplace”, called the Essentials of the Profession. This will be adopted, but not endorsed, that is, it will have the value that companies are willing to confer. It will show the care and rigor that the person has shown, while taking advantage of Microsoft’s aura and legitimacy. For now, classes will only be in English, but the company will add Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese. “Over the next few months.”. It will be freely available until 2025.

In parallel, Redmond will also launch a toolkit with downloadable content for educators, including a new AI course designed for educators by Microsoft Education, as well as content on practical uses of AI. Finally, from the 17th of July to the 14th of August it will be possible – provided that you speak English – to take part in the Microsoft Learn AI Skills Challenge, a free technical training challenge to learn basic AI skills using Microsoft products and services. Again, participants will receive a badge and certificate of completion.

But Microsoft is not the only one providing Internet users with training to learn about generative AI. Last May, OpenAI launched a free course in partnership with DeepLearning.AI to learn how to master ChatGPT, titled ChatGPT architecture for developers. It lasts 1 hour, and is intended for people with a solid knowledge of Python – one of the most widely used and recognized computer languages. The goal is that, eventually, participants can find their way around the OpenAI API and be able to develop new software. For its part, Google recently introduced a free online course called “Introduction to Generative Artificial Intelligence” (Introduction to Generative Artificial Intelligence). Aimed at beginners and lasting 45 minutes, participants are explained how to use this technology and how it differs from traditional machine learning methods. Again, they get a badge to display on LinkedIn. For now, the content is only offered in English, but we can reasonably hope that it will be offered in other languages ​​in the future.