Here are the top AI certifications that will get you hired and promoted

As AI reshapes every industry, the race for top IT talent is accelerating. College degrees are no longer enough. CIOs are shifting to skills-first hiring, using certifications to quickly validate readiness in key areas like AI, cloud, and cybersecurity.

Certifications are no longer just credentials; they can be strategic tools that CIOs use to reduce risk, elevate team performance, and drive digital transformation, according to a recent study by Gartner.

One in four CIOs (26%) plan to reduce degree requirements, prompting more workers to choose certifications over college, according to Jose Ramirez, director analyst for Gartner’s CIO Leadership & Talent team.

“The traditional reliance on degrees is too slow, especially for the AI field, and is giving way to a new era: skills-first hiring,” Ramirez said. “Employers… are recognizing that IT certifications provide a faster, more objective validation of workforce readiness, especially in critical areas like AI, cloud, and cybersecurity.”

CIOs continue to prioritize the hiring of technical expertise, with 61% reporting that candidates having the required technical skills has the biggest impact on their hiring decisions, according to Gartner.

“In general, more professionals are adding certifications to their LinkedIn profile,” a LinkedIn spokesperson said. We now have close to 280 million certifications added on profiles, and this has increased by more than 20 million this year.”

Over the next decade, AI-related demand is expected to boost jobs in professional, scientific, and technical services (+7.5%) and the information sector (+6.5%), according to a new US Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

AI literacy is now one of the most in-demand skills employers seek across all jobs on LinkedIn, the LinkedIn spokesperson said.

Gartner’s Ramirez agreed, saying the most prevalent learning platforms mentioned when developing AI literacy for the workforce are Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.

LinkedIn Learning offers 1,700 courses on AI globally. Some of the top AI-related professional certificates earned through LinkedIn include:

• Career Essentials in Generative AI by Microsoft and LinkedIn
• Build Your Generative AI Productivity Skills with Microsoft and LinkedIn
• AI for Managers by Microsoft and LinkedIn

Pluralsight and Skillsoft are among the top platforms used for IT certifications since they partner with top cloud providers and offer interactive hands-on learning labs, according to Ramirez. For example, Pluralsight offers certification preparation for the AWS Certified AI Practitioner and Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals certifications.

Upskilling the workforce

In 2025, the landscape of AI certifications has expanded significantly, offering CIOs a range of options to validate and upskill their workforce at all levels, according to Gartner.

Unsurprisingly, the proportion of candidates pursuing AI and machine learning certifications has more than doubled in two years, rising from 17% in 2022 to 35% in 2024, making AI the second most sought-after certification specialty among job seekers.

Just 14 months after the launch of ChatGPT, enrollment in genAI courses on platforms like Coursera and Udemy grew to 3.5 million, according to a report from Validated Insights, a higher education-focused digital marketing agency.

There is an estimated shortage of more than 700,000 AI workers, and that shortage is projected to persist in the coming years, according to the report. AI/ML engineer employment will almost triple from 2024 to 2027.

Seth Hodgson, senior vice president of engineering at online learning platform Udemy, said genAI and large language models (LLMs) are reshaping work and learning, driving urgent demand for personalized, scalable upskilling to stay competitive.

Udemy, Hodgson said, hosts more than 4,500 courses on genAI, with paid enrollments surpassing 11 million this year. “This momentum reflects a broader push to embed AI fluency across workforces,” he said.

One example is NEQSOL, an Amsterdam-based conglomerate serving over 25 million customers. Facing an urgent need to upskill employees, NEQSOL introduced 32 AI-focused courses on Udemy for their staff.

“Within months, 63% of its workforce had gained AI skills, with a 90% adoption rate. Employees are now training in everything from generative AI fundamentals to advanced project management and IT certifications — and the company reduced certification prep costs by 60% in just one quarter,” Hodgson said.

Top generative AI courses on Udemy Business 

1. The Complete Prompt Engineering for AI Bootcamp (2025)

2. The Complete Agentic AI Engineering Course (2025)

3. Cursor Course: FullStack development with Cursor Vibe Coding

4. Generative AI for Beginners

5. LLM Engineering: Master AI, Large Language Models & Agents

The largest online learning platform, Coursera, has seen 10.9 million registrations for genAI courses. The platform offers about 995 genAI courses — more than 350 were added so far this year, according to a spokesperson.

“Some top university and industry partners providing these courses on Coursera include Google, IBM, DeepLearning.AI, Vanderbilt, University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania,” the spokesperson said.

Top 5 Coursera genAI courses:

1. Google AI Essentials (Google)
2. Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (Google Cloud)
3. Generative AI for Everyone (DeepLearning.AI)
4. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (IBM)
5. Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT (Vanderbilt University)

Top 5 Coursera professional certificates that include genAI skills:

1. IBM Data Science (IBM)
2. DeepLearning.AI TensorFlow Developer (DeepLearning.AI)
3. IBM Generative AI Engineering (IBM)
4. IBM Data Engineering (IBM)
5. Adobe Graphic Designer (Adobe)

Online education platform edX also provides university-level courses and certifications from institutions like Harvard, MIT, and others. According to edX, those seeking out AI certifications and courses should consider these options:

• General AI courses are in strong demand, as they help leaders understand AI, its business uses, and its impact on industries.
• Industry-specific courses focus on AI challenges and applications in particular sectors.
• Ethics and governance courses teach risk, ethics, and governance as AI adoption grows.
• Applied technical courses offer hands-on skills aligned with job market needs.
• Foundational courses introduce AI basics to beginners, expanding the talent pipeline.

“For [executive education], we’ve learned through survey data that motivation is for leaders who face disruption (e.g., learners enroll because of a new business need, where they need to update skills in a changing industry),” according to an edX spokesperson.

Top edX AI open courses by enrollment in the last 12 months:

1. HarvardX: CS50’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python
2. HarvardX: Data Science: Building Machine Learning Models
3. IBM: AI for Everyone: Master the Basics
4. HarvardX: Machine Learning and AI with Python
5. MITx: Machine Learning with Python: from Linear Models to Deep Learning

Top edX AI executive education courses by enrollment in the last 12 months:

1. MIT Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy
2. Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme
3. MIT Artificial Intelligence in Health Care
4. LSE Ethics of AI
5. MIT Artificial Intelligence in Pharma and Biotech

EdX course complete rates are high — 90% for executive education courses and 52% for open courses.

Industry-specific AI on the rise

EdX also has industry-and function-specific AI courses, such as AI in Finance and AI in Marketing, to address the unique adoption challenges and applications within key sectors. Industry-specific AI courses help address sector challenges with insights tailored to each field.

Ethics and governance courses provide practical guidance for using AI responsibly. Applied technical courses teach hands-on skills aligned with job market needs. Foundational courses cover core concepts for beginners, helping grow the AI talent pool.

“We are expanding skills-focused AI offerings by launching new courses in genAI, LLMs, agentic AI; more role, career-oriented courses like AI Engineer; and practical deployment tool integration — like LLM with Azure — to meet the growing demand for cutting-edge technical skills,” an edX spokesperson said.

For established tech professionals, AI certifications can help them move into more specialized or senior roles.

AI certifications like the Microsoft Certified Azure AI Engineer Associate and advanced certifications from Google and NVIDIA focus on real-world integration of AI into cloud, data engineering, and edge computing environments, catering to current IT professionals and architects. Some IT professionals may already have obtained a certification from those organizations (e.g., Microsoft Certified Azure Developer Associate), so the Microsoft AI certification will be a natural progression.

Based on Gartner’s CIO talent planning survey for 2025, 87% of enterprises have implemented or plan to implement AI engineering roles in their workforce.

“Current IT professionals, especially software engineers, full-stack developers, or data engineers, are great candidates for AI certifications to transition into an AI engineer role,” Ramirez said. “AI engineers often come from previous AI solution and software development roles.”

Additionally, Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Graduate Certificate and the MIT Professional Certificate in Machine Learning and AI provide rigorous, expert-led training in core AI concepts, machine learning, and advanced modeling — ideal for professionals with strong technical backgrounds, Ramirez said.

Certifications that signal leadership readiness in AI or machine learning teams include one from the United States Artificial Intelligence Institute (USAII) designed for senior executives and business leaders. Its Certified AI Transformation Leader (CAITL) certification program covers industry-neutral AI strategies, managing risks, and developing teams for managing AI transformation.

For those seeking a more cost-effective or introductory-level specialization, the Generative AI for Executives and Business Leaders Specialization offered through Coursera provides an overview of AI literacy for executives, Ramirez said.

Another emerging AI field is deep learning, especially since practical application with frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch is often seen in popular AI roles such as AI engineer. DeepLearning.AI’s Deep Learning Specialization (Coursera), led by Andrew Ng, remains a gold standard for hands-on deep learning expertise, Ramirez said.

“I see industry-recognized certifications becoming a baseline requirement for AI roles due to the time it takes to acquire a certification versus a traditional university degree,” Ramirez said. “That is, employers and candidates do not have time for degrees since AI continues to evolve rapidly.”

Don’t dismiss hands-on experience

Gartner’s Ramirez noted that the current situation could be short-term — lasting over next two to five years. “It’s hard to tell if AI certification will be a requirement in five years, due to its rapidly evolving nature,” he said.

A benefit that certifications can provide junior talent is the opportunity to build their portfolios. Therefore, experts encourage junior AI roles to take advantage of the project-based learning often offered by certifications to expand their portfolios.

“Combining certification with practical examples will give them an advantage in today’s labor market,” Ramirez said.

Andrew Rabinovich, CTO and head of AI at freelance job marketplace Upwork, said that when it comes to hiring, his organization doesn’t always look at specific AI courses or certifications. Instead, they focus on workplace experience.

“There are some great primers for people new to the AI space, like online courses or YouTube talks from AI industry leaders, that can give a solid introduction,” he said. “But what matters most is whether someone has actually used the tools and understands their practical value and limitations.”

Upwork looks for people who know how to experiment with AI and can recognize what it can and can’t do, “including where hallucinations or errors might creep in. That kind of real-world fluency is far more important to our team,” Rabinovich said.