Where to actually learn AI
24 programmes, from free vendor academies to paid professional certificates, with European and Belgian options called out. 13 of them cost nothing at all. Independently compiled by RXed. No affiliate links, no paid placements. Checked 2026-07-30. A course that is free to take but charges for the certificate is filed under free to start, not free.
| Programme | Cost | For | Format | Cert | The honest version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Agents Course Hugging Face | Free, including the certificate | Technical Global | Self-paced ~3-4 h/week per unit, no deadlines | Yes | Rare thing: genuinely free course and free certificate, no deadlines; still a developer course, not a business one. |
| AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations Anthropic Academy | Free, certificate of completion included | Business Global | Self-paced 10 modules, self-paced | Yes | Vendor-neutral 4D framework for working with any LLM; free with certificate, but every example runs on Claude. |
| ARISA AI Skills Academy ARISA project (EU co-funded) | Free, certificate of achievement included | Beginner EU | Self-paced 12 weeks part-time, ~6-8 h/week | Yes | EU-funded seven-course track up to deep learning; heavier than it looks and the certificate carries no formal weight. |
| Artificiele intelligentie (AI) - online VDAB (Flemish public employment service) | Free (VDAB-recognised online learning) | Beginner BE | Self-paced Online course, self-paced | No | Free Flemish public training for jobseekers and employees; Dutch only and you need a VDAB account to enrol. |
| De Vlaamse AI-Cursus VAIA / Jim Stolze | Free | Beginner BE | Self-paced Short online modules, self-paced | No | Dutch-language AI basics for anyone in Belgium, works on a phone; very introductory and sponsor-backed. |
| Elements of AI University of Helsinki & MinnaLearn | Free, certificate included; ECTS credits only available in Finland | Beginner EU | Self-paced 6 chapters, ~4 weeks part-time | Yes | Europe's default AI-literacy course, in Dutch and 20+ languages; conceptual only, no hands-on tool practice. |
| Introduction to Modern AI Cisco Networking Academy | Free, including the Cisco digital badge | Beginner Global | Self-paced ~6 h total | Yes | Six-hour no-code intro with a free Credly badge; broad and shallow, useful as a company-wide baseline. |
| KI-Campus Stifterverband (Germany) | Free, including certificates | Beginner EU | Self-paced Courses from ~2 h to several weeks | Yes | German public AI learning platform, much of it in English with free certificates; quality varies sharply per course. |
| Kaggle Learn Kaggle (Google) | Free, including certificates; Kaggle account required | Technical Global | Self-paced Micro-courses, a few hours each | Yes | Free micro-courses with free certificates; data-science flavoured, so more pandas than prompting. |
| LLM Course Hugging Face | Free, readable without an account; no certificate offered yet | Technical Global | Self-paced ~6-8 h/week, roughly one chapter per week | No | Full transformer and LLM course readable without an account; no certificate yet and it expects solid Python. |
| Machine Learning Crash Course Google for Developers | Free, no sign-up, no certificate | Technical Global | Self-paced 12+ modules, self-paced | No | Free with no signup, from regression to LLMs; assumes Python and school maths, and gives no credential. |
| OpenAI Academy OpenAI | Free, account required | Business Global | Self-paced 3 core courses plus weekly live skill labs, ~30-60 min each | No | Free ChatGPT-centric training with live skill labs; no credential in the free tier and it assumes a paid ChatGPT plan. |
| Practical Deep Learning for Coders fast.ai | Free, no account and no certificate | Technical Global | Self-paced Part 1: 9 lessons, ~13.5 h of video plus practice | No | Coding-first deep learning, no signup wall; needs a year of Python and real time, not a lunch break. |
| AI For Everyone DeepLearning.AI (via Coursera) | Free to audit; certificate requires a paid Coursera subscription | Executive Global | Self-paced 4 modules, ~7 h total | Yes | Made for owners and managers who will never write code; predates generative AI, so pair it with something newer. |
| CS50's Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python Harvard University | Free via OpenCourseWare; verified edX certificate costs extra | Technical US | Self-paced 7 weeks of material | Yes | Free through Harvard's OpenCourseWare; the edX certificate costs extra and you need a year of Python first. |
| IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate IBM (via Coursera) | Free to enrol; Coursera subscription needed for the certificate | Technical Global | Self-paced 13 courses, ~4 months at 10 h/week | Yes | Job-oriented engineering track; 13 courses is a real commitment and the subscription runs the whole time. |
| Introduction to Generative AI (learning path) Google Skills (formerly Cloud Skills Boost) | Free with a Google account; hands-on labs elsewhere consume paid credits | Beginner Global | Self-paced 5 activities, self-paced | Yes | Free vendor intro to generative AI on Google Cloud; the real hands-on labs burn paid credits. |
| Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-901) Microsoft | Learning modules free on Microsoft Learn; exam fee priced per country | Technical Global | Self-paced Free self-study modules plus one proctored exam | Yes | AI-900 retired 30 June 2026, so only AI-901 counts; modules are free but the exam is paid and Azure-specific. |
| NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute self-paced courses NVIDIA | Several self-paced courses free; deeper ones around $90 each | Technical Global | Self-paced Courses of ~2-8 h; workshops run a full day | Yes | GPU-backed labs you cannot easily replicate locally; the free catalogue rotates and the best courses are paid. |
| Short Courses catalogue DeepLearning.AI | Videos free; labs, quizzes and certificates need Pro membership | Technical Global | Self-paced 100+ courses, ~1-11 h each | Yes | Videos are free and current; labs, quizzes and certificates sit behind the Pro membership paywall. |
| AI For Business Vlerick Business School | EUR 3,995 excl. 21% VAT | Executive BE | Blended 3 days in Brussels plus self-paced pre-work | Yes | Belgian three-day exec programme for SME decision-makers; you leave with a strategy, not with hands-on skills. |
| AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) Amazon Web Services | $100 USD exam; official prep material free on AWS Skill Builder | Business Global | Self-paced 90-minute exam, self-paced prep | Yes | Cert for managers and analysts who buy AI rather than build it; only worth $100 if you are already on AWS. |
| Google AI Essentials Google (via Coursera) | $49/month Coursera subscription after a 7-day free trial | Beginner Global | Self-paced 5 modules, under 5 h total | Yes | Best short primer for non-technical staff; you pay Coursera monthly, so finish inside the trial or budget for it. |
| Machine Learning Specialization Stanford University & DeepLearning.AI (via Coursera) | $49/month Coursera subscription; no free audit, financial aid available | Technical Global | Self-paced 3 courses, ~2 months at 10 h/week | Yes | The standard on-ramp to real machine learning; there is no audit option, so the monthly fee is unavoidable. |
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