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AI Essentials professional course

Professional-grade AI skills. University-backed confidence.

  • Built for anyone. Step-by-step lessons and live support from AI practitioners take you from trying AI to using it like a pro.
  • Hands-on practice. Each week you apply AI to your own work, from research and analysis to building your first reusable workflow.
  • Certificate. Earn a UAB Collat School of Business Professional Education certificate of completion that your employer will value (and likely pay for).

GET COURSE AND PRICING INFO

Here's how it works:
1

Choose a start date. Enroll in minutes. Start as soon as today. Complete in just 5 weeks.

2

Learn by doing. Join on-demand lessons and live sessions with AI experts, applying every step of the way.

3

Advance your career. Get more done in less time and become the person your team turns to for AI.

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AI fluency is quickly becoming a baseline. Make it your advantage.

  • Get better results in less time
  • Let AI handle the repetitive tasks so you can do your best work
  • Build the skills that get people hired and promoted

AI skills that deliver impactful results, in just 5 weeks:

  • Develop an AI-first mindset
  • Know when to trust AI’s output and when to step in
  • Turn data and research into a clear, defensible recommendation
  • Build agentic workflows for repeatable work
  • Create exceptional content in a fraction of the time
  • Create a playbook of real work you can use on the job
Tools and Technologies
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Sample certificate
Fall Special: Save $450
Price:$2,300 $1,850 (SAVE 20%)
Try it risk-free
Drop within 7 days of course start for a full refund, no questions asked.
Next session starts Nov 2
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56,183 have enrolled in our learning experience

GET A SNEAK PEEK

Preview the full syllabus and see how you’ll master practical AI techniques and elevate your productivity in just five weeks.

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How can we help? Search our FAQs

As industries rapidly integrate AI technologies, the demand for professionals proficient in AI skills has surged. Job postings with generative AI increased by 15,625% from 2021 to 2024, according to the Lightcast “Speed of Skill Change” report, underscoring significant market demand. Additionally, Lightcast found that AI skills command a 28% salary premium in the Beyond the Buzz: Developing the AI Skills Employers Actually Need report.
 

This course attracts learners who are motivated to expand their knowledge and grow job-critical skills to continue their development and advancement. Their backgrounds are wide and varied, including professionals from Marketing, Sales, Project Management, Product, Customer Success, Business Operations, HR, Finance, IT/DevOps, and more.

Our course is ideal for anyone who identifies with one of the following profiles:

  • Business professionals looking for tangible practice with AI
  • Business professionals looking to:
    • Gain a 'big picture' understanding of the capabilities of AI
    • Apply AI skills in their current role
    • Transition into a job or career path that values or requires AI skills
  • Identify how they can use AI across a wide variety of use cases
  • Entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals looking to unlock new approaches to driving innovation, growth, and impact

Have additional questions? Email us at support@ziplines.com and someone from our enrollment team will get back to you.

AI prompting involves entering specific instructions or queries into AI systems to generate desired outputs, such as text, images, or code. It involves crafting text prompts to achieve the user's goals. Unlike the more specialized prompt engineering, AI prompting is an accessible skill anyone can quickly learn and use.

This course equips you with essential AI skills to enhance productivity and prepare you for future technological advancements while giving you the skills to use and innovate at work now.

The AI Essentials course covers foundational generative AI skills, which involve entering specific instructions or queries into AI systems to generate desired outputs, such as text, images, or code. It involves crafting text prompts to achieve the user's goals.

AI Automation goes a step further. It focuses on automating tasks by integrating AI tools into structured workflows. This course teaches you how to connect AI with no-code automation tools like Make.com, Zapier, and n8n to streamline processes, reduce manual work, and enhance efficiency. For more information about that course, email us at support@ziplines.com, and someone from our team will get back to you.

AI prompting is a skill anyone can learn and use, and this course is designed for learners with no prior experience.

To complete the course successfully, learners should be able to use web applications, download and access files, and use email and messaging apps.

Yes! We offer group enrollments for your team’s AI training needs. We work with business teams, executives, and organizations of all sizes to provide seamless group enrollment and onboarding.  Learn more and request a group enrollment quote here. 

The course and the Playbook projects will provide you with content to create a portfolio, but you are responsible for creating a portfolio on the platform of your choice.

Our courses are built for real life. This program is designed to fit around a full-time role while still delivering meaningful outcomes.

You can expect to spend 6–8 hours per week on interactive, on-demand content, including hands-on activities and applied playbook assignments.

Weekly live online sessions (2 hours) are led by expert AI practitioners and include demos, discussion, and deeper dives into course content. These sessions are optional and recorded for later viewing.

No, this is a noncredit course. As such, it is not eligible for financial aid. However, many employers offer reimbursement for continuing education, so check with your human resources department to determine your eligibility.

There are multiple payment options for this course. The first way is to pay upfront, online. This option also provides the largest savings.

We offer both installment and financing options. To find out if you qualify for either of these payment options, fill out the enrollment form to be directed to the payment page. From there, you can click on the "Get Qualified" link to see what options are available.

Many employers also offer tuition reimbursement. Our guide gives you suggestions and templates for how to ask your employer to cover the cost of the course.

View our reimbursement guide.

We are confident in the quality of our learning experience, having supported thousands of learners and received hundreds of 5-star reviews. Because we believe so strongly in the value and impact of our course, we offer a 7-day money-back guarantee from the start date. If the course isn't the right fit for you, you can withdraw within the first week of your course and receive a full refund, no questions asked.

Everything is online. You’ll access on-demand content and assignments through our online learning platform and join the optional instructor-led live sessions once a week through a video conference platform. The live sessions are recorded and available for playback on demand. The online Learner Dashboard can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection on a computer.

Ziplines Education is a market-driven education company based in Silicon Valley, CA. UAB Collat School of Business Professional Education collaborates with Ziplines Education to offer innovative and highly rated certificate courses that help adult learners and working professionals build work-ready digital skills and earn industry-recognized credentials.

Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), a part of the University of Alabama System, is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center with more than $780 million in annual research expenditures and an economic impact on the state exceeding $12.1 billion a year. The university offers more than 180 degree programs in nine schools and one college.

The four pillars of UAB’s mission are education, research, innovation and economic development, community engagement, and patient care. Learn more at www.uab.edu.

The UAB Collat School of Business offers a dynamic learning environment where students gain real-world insights beyond the classroom. Collat Professional Education exists to empower professionals through engaging custom programs and career advancement courses to achieve their full potential and make a positive impact on society.

Collat School of Business Professional Education, a part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), is collaborating with Ziplines Education to offer this certificate. Ziplines Education is an industry-driven education company that delivers practical digital skills and hands-on experience to prepare learners for high-growth careers and to offer non-credit academic programs. This course is designed, taught, and administered by Ziplines Education, and the curriculum has been vetted and approved by Collat School of Business Professional Education. After successfully completing a course, you’ll receive a certificate from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Collat School of Business Professional Education, a part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), is dedicated to delivering exceptional, career-relevant education to all learners. This program is offered through Collat Professional Education in collaboration with Ziplines Education.
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UAB Collat School of Business Professional Education collaborates with Ziplines Education to deliver industry-focused certificate courses that prepare professionals for the demands of today’s digital-first workforce. Courses and curricula are approved by UAB Collat School of Business Professional Education. Ziplines Education offers design, instructional, and administrative services.
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