There’s a funny thing about companies’ approach to AI: Almost every company is eager to adopt it and gain the benefits it can offer, but very few companies have bothered to train their workforces on how to actually use it.
Consider that a 2026 Google/Ipsos study found that only 37% of employees say they’ve received any organizational guidance around AI use, while an even slimmer fraction — just 14% — have been offered real AI training. Meanwhile, the number of employees who understand basic prompt engineering increased by only four percentage points (22% to 26%) from 2024 to 2025.
With many companies doing relatively little to increase AI fluency throughout the organization, it’s easy to see why AI adoption rates are stagnant — but they don’t have to remain that way.
With the right AI training courses and resources, your team members can gain the skills they need to get the most out of their AI tools today and the fluency needed to adapt to what’s coming next.
Why Crafting Your Own In-House AI Training May Be Best — For Now
While comprehensive, off-the-shelf options like AWS Skill Builder provide extensive training resources on AI, the cost starts at $449 per seat for smaller teams (though bulk discounts are available). That can be a costly proposition for many companies, especially as AI stacks are still developing, and the solutions used vary from to function to function — or even from team to team.
Because so many aspects of organizational AI use are in flux, crafting your own AI training regimen is probably the optimal choice for most companies, at least for the near term. The good news is that:
- There’s no shortage of high-quality and even role-specific training available for organizations and their workers.
- Most (but not all) of these training courses are low- or no-cost.
- Almost all of them can be done remotely and at employees’ own pace.
As a result, you should be able to mix and match the resources below to address the majority of your company’s training needs.
The Best AI Training for All Professional Levels
Some resources can deliver value for everyone from the entry level to the C-suite. These are typically broad-but-shallow courses that cover a range of fundamental AI topics, from how LLMs and NLPs work to tips for better prompting and productivity.
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (LinkedIn/Microsoft)
While this course states that it’s “designed for project managers, product managers, directors, executives, and students starting a career in AI,” it’s great for employees who are new to AI in general.
Despite the fact that it’s broken into short, digestible segments of around three minutes each (viewing all of the recorded course material should take around two hours), it provides a thorough introductory framework for what AI is and isn’t and how it works, along with key concepts about LLMs, NLP, algorithms, and even ethical and legal concerns. It’s an all-in-one intro suitable for pretty much everyone.
Google AI Essentials Specialization (Google/Coursera)
This eight-hour course offers in-depth-but-accessible modules covering AI fundamentals, smarter prompting techniques, responsible AI use, strategies for maximizing productivity, and more. It may be too thorough for true AI beginners. But for professionals who have moderate exposure to AI and are looking for a not-too-technical deep dive on different aspects of AI use, it may prove invaluable.
Prompt Engineering: How to Talk to the AIs (LinkedIn)
Quick, useful, and designed to help people at all levels of AI fluency interact more effectively with LLMs, this course is led by the vice president of engineering and AI product strategy at LinkedIn. It’s a great overview for employees encountering their first AI implementation, and it covers the fundamentals of both basic and sophisticated prompting. Clocking in at around 30 minutes, this course can be done during a lunch break.
The Best AI Training for Executives and Decision-Makers
Leaders will benefit from resources that help them identify opportunities for AI-driven automation and productivity gains throughout functions and across the organization. These courses from MIT and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania are among the best in that regard.
Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy (MIT)
For leaders looking for a more strategic view of how AI can deliver value across the enterprise, this course from MIT is hard to beat. Over the course of six weeks, participants will dig into potential use cases for robotics, machine learning, natural language processing, GenAI tools, and more, along with the ethical considerations that come with them.
The final capstone project will see students develop a tailored AI roadmap for their organizations. Be aware, however, that this one isn’t cheap. It costs around $3,900 per participant, but for a course designed and guided by MIT faculty and industry experts and tailored for senior leaders, the price tag may be worth it for your organization.
AI For Business Specialization (Wharton/Coursera)
Clocking in at 40+ hours, this four-part course is led by Wharton faculty and delivers in-depth learning on topics including AI fundamentals, governance, marketing personalization, people analytics, and financial risk management.
This course is deep and comprehensive, and while it covers some basic fundamentals, it’s meant for senior decision-makers looking to gain a holistic understanding of where AI can best be deployed, the use cases it can support most effectively, the risks that accompany it, and its impact on people, profits, and productivity throughout the organization.
The Best AI Training for Ethics, Risk, and Compliance
Online Certificate in AI Governance & Compliance (Georgetown University)
With a focus on AI governance and legal and ethical considerations, this six-week course involves developing a real-world plan for AI governance, addressing ethical, risk, and regulatory issues, and more. It’s a comprehensive program that requires regularly scheduled attendance via Zoom, and classes fill up quickly. At a cost of around $3,000, it’s certainly not a low-cost option — but the value it can deliver to professionals in risk and compliance may be well worth the cost of admission.
Responsible AI: Principles and Practical Applications (LinkedIn)
Led by Tsu-Jae Liu, the dean of the College of Engineering at UC-Berkeley and the president of the National Academy of Engineering, this course offers a strong foundation for all professionals, but there’s an especially valuable element for risk and compliance professionals, as well.
As the title suggests, this course focuses on responsible AI use, but it contains modules dedicated to HR and hiring, healthcare, social media, the environment, and more. There’s also a very useful section that provides different risk and impact assessment models you can put to work right away.
Ethics in the Age of Generative AI (LinkedIn)
Leaders concerned about the many ethical implications of an AI implementation can get value from this course. In it, participants will gain a framework they can use to address the ethical risks of AI and the potentially unethical behaviors that may come with it, as well as tips for empowering tech teams to make ethical decisions around AI use.
Balance AI Training for Today — and Tomorrow
At the rate AI is advancing, the smart money may be on AI training programs that balance practical skills, like prompting, with fundamentals and foundational concepts. After all, the next release may completely change the landscape of what AI can do — or even what AI is.
In the meantime, ensuring any organizational AI implementation is at least accompanied by basic instruction on prompting and data governance will likely put your teams well ahead of the competition.
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