Amazon Web Services (AWS) today as part of an ongoing effort to increase the amount of artificial intelligence (AI) expertise has added two training certifications.
AWS Certified AI Practitioner is a base level certification designed for individuals from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, while AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate is designed for individuals with at least one year of experience building, deploying and maintaining AI and machine learning solutions on the AWS cloud.
Starting August 13, individuals will be able to register for the beta exams of AWS Certified AI Practitioner and AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate. There are eight free courses for AWS Certified AI Practitioner, including Fundamentals of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Exploring Artificial Intelligence Use Cases and Application, and Essentials of Prompt Engineering.
Training resources for AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate will require IT professionals sign up for an AWS Skill Builder subscription to access three new courses, including data transformation concepts and techniques, feature engineering and strategies for bias mitigation and data security. Additional courses will be added this summer.
Previously, AWS has committed to training two million individuals around the globe to be AI ready by 2025 to address demand for AI skills. According to a study commissioned by AWS, organizations are not only looking for people in technical and nontechnical roles with AI skills, but they’re also willing to pay them a premium. Employers are willing to pay up to 47% higher salary for IT workers with AI skills, 43% higher salary in sales and marketing, 42% more in finance, 41% more in business operations, 37% more in legal, regulatory and compliance, and 35% more in human resources.
AI certifications are especially critical because employers are trying to determine which job candidates actually have these skills, says Jenni Troutman, director of products and services for AWS training and certification. The challenge is AI requires individuals to be able to learn by launching a series of interactive prompts that generate an actionable output. Many individuals will need to adjust how they learn to get the most out of a generative AI platform, notes Troutman.
Ultimately, the way AI skills are taught will eventually evolve to rely more on generative AI to provide more interactive instruction experience rather than simply watching online videos. Students will one day soon be able to converse with a generative AI platform that will be able to provide training tailored to their specific experience level, says Troutman. “We are starting to see a shift in learning,” she adds.
Despite the prevalence of AI tools that are widely accessible, however, it’s still important to assess individuals on their ability to complete a task without that help, she notes.
Regardless of how AI skills are attained, there is no job function that won’t one day be impacted. The challenge and the opportunity now is attaining those skills, not so much because AI is going to eliminate a job role, but rather because that job is one day going to go to someone who has the AI skills required to do it better and faster.
