Like any modern subject, there are plenty of ways to learn AI online, through free and paid courses.
Every artificial intelligence course is different, and there are many of them across outlets like Coursera, Udemy, and EdX. In fact, all three platforms have tons of popular content on AI, machine learning, deep learning, and data science.
If you look hard enough, there's usually an AI course or machine learning course for every appetite.
Some are informative one-off courses for beginners with no technical background. Others are deep dives into programming languages and techniques. Still others offer entire degrees in AI, machine learning, and data science. Some even come with their own AI certification to show you're a trained data scientist, machine learning engineer, or AI expert.
You might be starting to see the problem.
There are so many courses, and so little time.
How do you find the best artificial intelligence course for you?
It can take you hours, days, or weeks to sift through every AI course across popular platforms.
To help accelerate your learning, we've rounded up some top courses we've found on different sites.
Where possible, we've sorted each AI course by the number of reviews or review scores to provide you with the best options possible.
The Best Free Artificial Intelligence Course
AI For Everyone (Coursera)
Andrew Ng is co-founder of Coursera, adjunct professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, and formerly chief scientist at Baidu and the founding lead of Google Brain.
His non-technical course, AI for Everyone, aims to teach students about core AI concepts like the language of AI, how to drive adoption and AI strategy , and AI's potential impact on society.
This is one of the better courses we've personally taken at Marketing AI Institute, and we can't recommend it enough - especially for beginners looking for basic knowledge about AI.
As the Coursera course description reads:
"If you want your organization to become better at using AI, this is the course to tell everyone—especially your non-technical colleagues—to take."
Best Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Courses: Udemy
We filtered courses on Udemy by relevance for the keyword " artificial intelligence," then selected the most relevant courses for marketers with a rating above 4.0 stars.
Artificial Intelligence A-Z: Learn How to Build an AI
This course teaches you how to apply artificial intelligence in real-world applications.
Deep Learning A-Z: Hands-On Artificial Neural Networks
This course teaches you how to create algorithms in Python (a programming language used in data science) and is taught by deep learning experts.
Deep Learning Prerequisites: The Numpy Stack in Python
This course dives deep into the tech stack you need to actually code artificial intelligence applications in Python that incorporate deep learning and advanced data science.
Artificial Intelligence: Reinforcement Learning in Python
In this data science heavy course, you'll get a primer on AI-powered reinforcement learning, with a particular focus on online advertising.
Complete Machine Learning & Data Science Bootcamp 2021
Focused on helping you become a data scientist and get hired, this rigorous bootcamp-style course will teach you exactly how to understand, apply, and build data science models.
Best Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Courses: Coursera
Coursera offers multi-part courses that allow you to go deep on AI and data science topics over several weeks. We grabbed some of the top-rated courses as listed by the site.
Another great offering from Andrew Ng, this free course will teach you everything about machine learning, a core AI technology.
This course teaches you everything you need to know from a technical perspective about algorithms and how they're used across various AI and data science functions.
Neural Networks and Deep Learning
In Neural Networks and Deep Learning, Andrew Ng takes you even deeper into more sophisticated types of AI and data science, including deep learning, and advanced type of machine learning.
Structuring Machine Learning Projects
Designed for technical leaders, this course will teach you how to structure AI projects within your organization.
Machine Learning Foundations: A Case Study Approach
Using practical case studies, this course shows you a number of hands-on examples of how to use AI, machine learning, and data science techniques for a range of projects.
Deep Learning for Business is specifically focused on helping business leaders get real results with AI and data science. The course teaches you how to get started with deep learning in your company.
Best Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Courses: EdX
EdX courses are offered by accredited universities and often come with the option to receive a verified certificate or credential from the university for an extra fee.
Here are the top AI, machine learning, and data science related courses we've found on EdX.
CS50's Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python from Harvard
Learn to use machine learning in Python in this introductory course on artificial intelligence from Harvard's acclaimed CS50 computer science educational track.
Best AI Courses: Udacity
Online course provider Udacity offers one-off courses and more extensive "nanodegrees" that comprise a larger course of study, usually in conjunction with companies. Some one-off courses are also offered in partnership with universities.
We collected some of the top results from the site.
Knowledge-Based AI: Cognitive Systems by Georgia Tech
This course will give you all the information and skills you need to create knowledge-based AI agents.
This is a foundational course for any business leader who wants to actually implement AI. It has a particular focus on using AI to boost growth, capture more efficiencies, and power better customer experiences.
Taught by AI legends Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun, this course will teach you all the AI fundamentals you need to know. That includes AI technologies for search, optimization, and pattern recognition.
This course focused on a specific core AI technology: natural language processing (NLP). It’s the same technology that allows Alexa to understand what you say. In the course, you’ll use real models on real data, and use technologies like sentiment analysis and machine translation.
Intro to Machine Learning with TensorFlow
TensorFlow is an open-source library for machine learning used by top companies and engineers. This course will get you familiar with it, and the foundational machine learning algorithms available using the library.
Learn how to build your own neural network in this advanced course. You’ll get to implement neural networks for image recognition, image generation, and sequence generation.
Best AI Certifications: AI Academy for Marketers
Any of the artificial intelligence courses above will give you a great foundational education.
But if you're a marketer or businessperson who wants to speed up your results and get more formal certifications...
There is another option to consider.
AI Academy for Marketers is an online learning platform that helps any marketer or business professional understand, pilot, and scale AI and machine learning.
You can buy individual certification courses from AI Academy for Marketers. Each comes with a formal certificate upon course completion that you can use to increase your value in the eyes of prospective employers.
Intelligent Attribution Modeling for Marketers [Certification Course]
What is attribution analysis and why does every marketing executive demand it? In this practical guided tour of attribution analysis, Trust Insights cofounders Katie Robbert and Christopher Penn lead you through the different types of attribution models and the best practices for setting up your own analysis.
- Required tech: Google Analytics with goals set up (and collecting data); Free Tableau public account
- Optional tech: Google Data Studio
Note: Students should have a high-level understanding of all the digital marketing channels and how attribution works.
Artificial Intelligence and Data for Beginners [Certification Course]
Artificial intelligence has an almost infinite ability to process data in ways that create tremendous value for marketers. But how do brands go from reading about AI to actually using it?
It starts with asking the right questions about your data. Data powers all artificial intelligence solutions. What AI can and can’t do for your brand depends on the type and amount of data you have.
In this course you will learn:
- Data quality and how it impacts expected outcomes. We will demonstrate how inputting biased data could result in bad or unfavorable decisions.
- Vendor evaluation, and the questions to ask related to your data to ensure the technology will work for you as planned.
- How to navigate internal access to data, including best practices for successfully collaborating with others outside the marketing department.
- Ethics and the appropriate use of data, as it relates to ownership, consent, privacy and transparency.
- Case studies of companies that have successfully leveraged their data to solve complex business problems and the lessons they learned along the way.
Machine Learning 101 for Marketers [Certification Course]
Machine learning is the technology that powers advanced artificial intelligence systems, which give marketers the ability to plan, produce, promote, personalize, and perform like never before. You don’t need a computer science degree and years of formal training to understand and apply it.
You’ll come away from the session able to speak knowledgeably about machine learning, and stand prepared to implement it in your organization.
In this course you will learn:
- Learn what machine learning is (in plain English) and how it works.
- Discover how machine learning can be used to drive performance in marketing and sales.
- Gain actionable insights on how to get started with machine learning in your business.
AI for Content Marketing 101 [Certification Course]
AI can help brands create, promote, and optimize their content marketing at scale. But finding the right tools and strategies to get started can be challenging.
This Course shows you exactly how to start using AI in your content programs. The result? A potentially insurmountable advantage over competitors still creating content campaigns in a completely manual fashion.
In this course you will learn:
- Create intelligent content strategies that target the right people, talk about the right topics, and get audiences to take action.
- Augment your current content production teams with robust AI tools, so they can produce better assets in less time.
- Scale your content marketing programs by using AI to create, test, and optimize.
The Intelligently Automated Agency [Certification Course]
Artificial intelligence presents ways for agencies to create more value faster, as well as automate, augment and accelerate their operations—improving results for clients and the bottom line. This workshop shows agency owners how to make their companies more profitable, competitive, and attractive to clients.
In this course you will learn:
- Discover how AI can automate repetitive, manual tasks, freeing up talent to pursue higher value and higher profit activities, as well as increase margins.
- Enhance the value of the work you already do for clients by augmenting human creatives with machine systems to personalize, produce, and perform at scale.
- Uncover strategies to turn AI from buzzword into a business development tool that drives performance and opens up new profitable pathways.
A Full Learning Membership: AI Academy for Marketers
Instead of buying a single certification course from AI Academy for Marketers, you can get a full membership to 25+ courses and 5 formal certification courses taught by the industry's top authors, marketers, and entrepreneurs.
As an AI Academy member, you get unlimited, on-demand access to education on applied machine learning and AI. Across a range of content for every type of marketing, you'll learn:
- How to understand and use AI, machine learning models, natural language processing, computer vision, and other key technologies.
- How to understand and deploy advanced supervised learning and unsupervised learning models on your marketing and business data.
- How to pick and implement an AI and machine learning project across every area of marketing.
- Much, much more about how to increase revenue and decrease costs with AI and machine learning.
It's like an AI and machine learning bootcamp for marketing and business pros who want to get real business results from AI fast. And each major area of marketing-from content marketing to advertising to email marketing-has a specific learning path.
Oh, and you don't need to be an AI engineer, data scientists, or have any technical background to turn AI into your competitive advantage.
See how human intelligence + intelligent machines can transform your career and company.
Mike Kaput
As Chief Content Officer, Mike Kaput uses content marketing, marketing strategy, and marketing technology to grow and scale traffic, leads, and revenue for Marketing AI Institute. Mike is the co-author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence: AI, Marketing and the Future of Business (Matt Holt Books, 2022). See Mike's full bio.