Certified Applied AI Associate
For teams
Most AI training records prove attendance. An assessment proves a result. Staff sit an independent assessment, and every pass is dated and checkable by anyone holding the identifier.
§ 1The problem
A completion tick is not evidence
Most organisations rolled AI tools out faster than they checked whether anybody understood them. The usual response is a module with a completion record attached. That records that material was offered. It does not record that anything was learned, and it cannot tell you who is about to paste customer data into a consumer assistant.
An assessment measures the areas where AI use actually goes wrong: data handling, bias, verification, and who is accountable when an output turns out to be false. Those are the four that produce incidents, and they are the four that a completion record is silent on.
§ 2How it runs
Four steps, no procurement
Share the link
Staff register individually. The assessment fee is US$199, waived by a coupon code from the AI-Readiness Check. There is nothing to sign and no account for you to administer.
They prepare
The syllabus, practice test and study plan are free and public. Most staff need two to five hours.
They sit it
About 30 questions in 30 minutes, online. Each person confirms they are eighteen or over, and no identity documents are needed. The assessment is unproctored, so read a pass as evidence of understanding.
You verify
Each pass carries an identifier in the AIAC-L namespace with an entry on the public register. Collect the identifiers in your HR system and check any of them at any time.
§ 3What it measures
Five domains, weighted
| Domain | Weight | What a pass tells you |
|---|---|---|
| AI fundamentals | 20% | Staff know what these tools are, and what they are not |
| How AI works | 20% | They understand why an output can be confidently wrong |
| Generative AI and everyday use | 20% | They get useful, checkable work out of approved tools |
| Risks, limits and responsible use | 25% | They protect customer and personal data, and can recognise bias |
| AI governance awareness | 15% | They know the rules that apply, and who signs |
§ 4Comparison
Against a completion record
| Typical e-learning | This certificate | |
|---|---|---|
| Shows something was learned | No | 70% to pass |
| Identity established | Usually not | No. Eighteen or over, declared |
| Independent of you | No | Yes |
| Checkable by a third party | No | Public register |
| Cost | Licence fees | Nothing to you. The fee to staff is waived by a coupon code |
The independence column is the one that matters to an auditor. A record your own organisation produced, about training your own organisation delivered, is worth less than a result somebody outside it stands behind.
§ 5Rollout
A sensible order
FirstThe leadership team and whoever champions AI internally
It sets the tone, and it reliably surfaces gaps in your own AI policy before anybody else meets them.
ThenTeams handling customer, financial or personal data with AI
This is where an incident actually starts, and where a baseline is worth most.
ThenEverybody else with access to AI tools
Which, in most organisations, is now everybody, whether or not it was ever decided.
§ 6Questions
Frequently asked
What does it cost for an organisation?
Nothing to you. Each employee registers individually. The assessment fee is US$199, waived in full by a coupon code that anyone receives by completing the AI-Readiness Check and sharing their result on LinkedIn. One fee, or one code, covers every attempt. There is no volume licence and no employer account.
Can we see our staff results centrally?
No, and that is deliberate. The certificate belongs to the individual, which is what makes it portable and what makes it independent evidence rather than an internal record. Ask staff for their identifier and verify it on the public register, or collect the identifiers in your own HR system.
Does this satisfy our EU AI Act Article 4 obligation?
No single thing does, and anybody claiming otherwise is overselling. Article 4 asks providers and deployers to take measures supporting the development of AI literacy, assessed on what the organisation did. An independent, dated, verifiable assessment is one measure among several and is useful evidence of one. It is not a discharge of the duty, and the Council does not certify compliance with anybody’s law.
How long should we allow per person?
About 30 minutes for the assessment itself. Most staff spend between two and five hours preparing, and the syllabus, practice test and study plan are all free.
What if somebody fails?
A failed attempt can be retaken after 7 days at no further charge, and there is no limit on attempts. A failed result returns a score by domain, so the person can see where the gap is. Treat a pattern of failures in one domain as information about your own material rather than about your staff.
§ 7Next
Start with yourself
Sit it before you ask anybody else to. It takes 30 minutes, costs nothing, and tells you more about your own AI policy than a review of it will.