
16 Artificial Intelligence Courses to Take Online
There are a ton of ways to get started learning about AI — thanks to online courses.
Plenty of course providers like Coursera and Udemy have popular content on AI, machine learning, and data science.
These providers offer content that goes much deeper on the subject than your average article or video.
In fact, some are part-time courses of collegiate-level study that require several hours per week to complete. These courses are often taught by top AI researchers or experts, but cost far less than a typical university course.
If you want to go deeper on AI, online courses are a fantastic place to start.
There's just one problem:
There are so many courses out there, how do you find the best ones?
It can take you hours, days, or weeks to sift through all the content available.
To help accelerate your learning, we've rounded up some top courses we've found on various sites.
Where possible, we've sorted courses by number of reviews or review scores to provide you with the best options possible.
Note: Course details listed here are designed to make browsing this list easier, but may have changed since writing. Please make sure to click through and review each course's most current details.
Best Free Courses
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 new, non-technical course, AI for Everyone, aims to teach students about 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.
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."
Note: The course is free to take, but has an optional paid certificate.
Best AI Courses on 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 AI in real-world applications. 4.3 stars
- Deep Learning A-Z: Hands-On Artificial Neural Networks: This course teaches you how to create algorithms in Python, and is taught by AI experts. 4.5 stars
- Deep Learning Prerequisites: The Numpy Stack in Python: This course dives deep into the tech stack you need to actually code AI applications in Python. 4.6 stars
- Artificial Intelligence: Reinforcement Learning in Python: In this course, you'll get a primer on AI-powered reinforcement learning, with a particular focus on online advertising. 4.5 stars
Best AI Courses on Coursera
Coursera offers multi-part courses that allow you to go deep on AI topics over several weeks. We grabbed some of the top-rated courses as listed by the site:
- Machine Learning: Another great offering from Andrew Ng, this free course will teach you everything about machine learning, a core AI technology. 4.9 stars
- Algorithms, Part 1: This course teaches you everything you need to know from a technical perspective about algorithms and how they're used. 4.9 stars
- Neural Networks and Deep Learning: In this course, Andrew Ng takes you even deeper into more sophisticated types of AI. 4.9 stars
- Structuring Machine Learning Projects: Designed for technical leaders, this course will teach you how to structure AI projects within your organization. 4.8 stars
- 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 for a range of projects. 4.6 stars
- Deep Learning for Business: Specifically focused on business leaders, this course teaches you how to get started with AI in your company. 4.3 stars
Best AI Courses on 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.
Top AI courses we've found on EdX include:
- Artificial Intelligence at Columbia University: This course from Columbia University gives students a foundation in AI and how to apply the technology. Content is free; certificate is $249
- Machine Learning at Columbia University: This technical course teaches you how to use ML and algorithms, including specific techniques. Content is free; certificate is $249
- Machine Learning at Georgia Tech: This Georgia Tech course offers another way to learn all the basics of ML. Content is free; certificate is $99
Best AI Courses on 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.
- Intro to Artificial Intelligence: Taught by two giants in the AI field, this course will get you up to speed on the technology fast. Course is free
- 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. Course is free
Additional Courses: Introducing AI Academy for Marketers
We're consistently impressed by the number of AI courses available. Many offer a great introduction for marketers to the world of artificial intelligence.
There's just one problem...
No single platform exists to help marketing and sales professionals develop a competitive advantage with AI. Until now.
AI Academy for Marketers is an online learning platform that helps you understand, pilot and scale artificial intelligence. By becoming a member, you get to learn AI from the industry's top authors, marketers, and entrepreneurs. At launch, we've got 25+ Courses and Certificates on topics that include:
- Advertising: AI is transforming what is possible in the world of advertising at every level, from ad creation to audience targeting to ad buying. Courses in this track focus on the impact of AI on digital advertising and the careers of marketers who plan and run ad campaigns.
- Business Strategy: The Business Strategy track covers high-level organizational issues facing marketers and executives tasked with AI adoption and implementation. This includes topics such as: bias, compliance, culture, ethics, humanization of brands, jobs, digital transformation, adoption and privacy.
- Content Marketing: From research and planning to production and performance monitoring, content marketing is one of the top areas where we're seeing AI make an impact. In this track, learn how AI can help you produce stronger, more effective content quicker.
- Conversational: AI can connect us with consumers in more personal, meaningful ways. Courses in our Conversational track touch on how voice and chat assistants can help marketers and salespeople scale outreach, personalize communications and, ultimately, meet prospects and customers where they are.
- Email Marketing: AI gives email marketers the capability to personalize and drive conversions at scale based on smarter predictions. In this track, learn how you can use AI to improve email subject lines, optimize send time, and more.
- Data & Analytics: The underlying engine behind AI applications is data. Courses in this track touch on what data is needed, how to manage that data, and how data can be used to fuel growth.
- Research: AI excels at extracting insights from datasets, both those you own and those you have access to. Courses in the Research track help you use AI to gain a deeper understanding of your customers, markets and business.
- Sales: AI gives professionals the ability to target, engage, nurture and sell more efficiently. Sales Courses teach you how to leverage AI tools to crush your quotas and capture massive productivity gains.
- Search: AI is transforming how brands get found. Search Courses teach you how to stay ahead of the curve and supercharge your SEO activities using AI and related technologies.
- Social: With AI, forward-thinking marketers are increasing revenue from social and decreasing costs associated with social marketing activities. These Courses teach you how to do both.
Learn more about AI Academy for Marketers by clicking the button below.
About Mike Kaput
Mike Kaput is Chief Content Officer at Marketing AI Institute and a senior consultant at PR 20/20. He writes and speaks about how marketers can understand, adopt, and pilot artificial intelligence to increase revenue and reduce costs. Full bio.