Best Online AI Courses 2023 – Pros, Cons, Free and Paid Options.

Top online AI courses

For business: Artificial Intelligence for Business, by Udemy

For marketing: AI Marketing, by the University of Virginia

For machine learning: Machine Learning A-Z, by Udemy

As AI technology advances, people need to learn how to use these new tools. Online courses are a great way to do that. We’ve reviewed some of the best courses available in multiple AI fields and use cases, and our top 3 picks are listed above.

We’ve included courses for all levels of expertise and budgets. Whether you’re looking for a quick overview of AI or in-depth industry-certified courses, we’ve got you covered.

Artificial intelligence courses 

We’ve reviewed some of the best courses on AI below and have indicated some details that will help you choose the right one for you. We understand that not everyone has the same skill level, free time, or budget, so we’ve highlighted these criteria with each course.

AI is a broad subject, so we’ve separated the courses into the following use cases:

1. General AI understanding
2. Business
3. Marketing 
4. Natural language processing
5. Data analytics/machine learning
6. Data science 
7. Health care and medicine
8. Ethics and responsible AI
9. Financial analysis and trading 

Artificial intelligence courses for general AI concepts

You’ve heard of AI but you’re not clear on a lot of the buzzwords or potentially how these technologies could be used in your organization. Or you’ve got solid business or computer programming skills but are not sure how to use them with AI.

These courses give you a better understanding of the different aspects of the technologies that make up the artificial intelligence field and gain insights into how you can use them.

Introduction to AI & Machine Learning, by Udemy

The 1-hour on-demand video content delivers a comprehensive overview of what AI is. It also covers explanations of machine learning and neural networks that are suited for absolute beginners.

If you want a better idea of what AI is without a math or programming background, then this is a great place to start.

Course overview

• Understanding AI and how it differs from deep and machine learning
• Understanding machine learning techniques
• Learn about neural networks and deep learning
• Understand regression, classification, and clustering

Pros 

• Great course to enable a complete novice to join a conversation about AI
• Clear and concise explanations of basic concepts

Cons

• Light on detail if you already know a fair amount about AI
• The instructor’s accent is a little difficult to understand at times

Course duration 

• 1 hour of video content

Level

• Beginner – no prerequisites

Pricing

• $24.99

Source

Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme, by University of Oxford

This course gives you a strong conceptual understanding of underlying AI technologies like deep and machine learning and algorithms. 

You will be able to identify and assess opportunities to implement AI intelligent systems in your organization.

Course overview

• History and potential of AI in the digital ecosystem
• Understanding AI models and machine learning
• Understanding deep learning and how a neural network works
• Intelligence in machines and AI impact in the labor market
• Gain insights into the ethics of artificial intelligence
• How to drive AI in your business

Pros 

• Detailed enough to help CTOs or business leaders to make tangible decisions regarding implementing AI in their businesses
• Good focus on ethical and legal aspects of AI

Cons

• Expensive course

Course duration 

• 6 weeks

Level

• Beginner – no prerequisites

Pricing

• $2,738

Source

Artificial Intelligence, by Udacity

This is an advanced course that teaches the fundamentals of AI. If you have a background in linear math, statistics, and programming languages like Python, then this course will teach you to write programs using foundational AI algorithms to solve real-world problems.

Course overview

• Learn about the foundations of AI
• Applying AI in informed and uninformed search
• Using AI for automated planning and problem-solving
• Solving iterative improvement problems with optimization
• Using adversarial search in multi-agent environments
• Fundamentals of probabilistic models

Pros 

• Solid AI introduction for software engineers that need to apply AI in their projects
• Real-world projects for each course section
• Learn at your own pace

Cons

• If you’re new to programming or computer science, then this course is too complex.

Course duration 

• 3 months at 12-15 hrs/week

Level

• Advanced – This program requires experience with linear algebra,  statistics, and a programming language like Python.

Pricing

• $399/month or $1,197 for 3 months of access

Source

AI courses for business

AI can be used in a variety of business functions, including business management, analytics, marketing, and advertising. Here are some of the best AI business courses.

How to Leverage AI for Your Business, by TopApps

This mini-course gives a general overview of AI and how it can help your business. It covers the capabilities that current AI technology has as well as its limitations.

The course also gives examples of the latest AI tools and their use cases.

Course overview

• Introduction to AI and how it works
• Current applications of AI
• AI limitations and impact on the job market
• Examples of AI tools and their use cases
• How to find the right AI tool for your business
• How to make money with AI

Pros 

• A great introduction to AI and what AI business tools can do for you
• You can read the course material or watch the video with voiceover
• No cost or commitment

Cons

• This is really just a brief overview of AI for business. For more detail on AI business tools, you’d need to read the articles on the TopApps website.

Course duration 

• 30 minutes of video content

Level

• Beginner – no prerequisites

Pricing

• Free

Source

Artificial Intelligence for Business, by Udemy

AI can help your business to optimize business processes, minimize costs, and maximize revenue. This course shows you how you can use AI to do that in your business.

The course presents real-world examples of the implementation of AI in business as well as the tools currently available.

Course overview

• Using AI to optimizing business processes
• How AI can minimize business costs
• Use AI to maximize business revenue

Pros 

• Good real-world case studies used as examples
• Code samples and explanations are very helpful
• You can read the course material or watch the video with voiceover

Cons

• Some non-core topics could have been omitted

Course duration 

• 15 hrs

Level

• Intermediate – High school math and basic Python knowledge required

Pricing

• $94.99

Source

AI for Business Leaders, by Udacity

Incorporating AI into your corporate strategy requires a foundational understanding of machine learning and the application of artificial intelligence across industries.

This course delivers that, as well as how to compile proposals when evaluating potential opportunities to implement AI into corporate strategy. If you’re a business leader that needs to compile or evaluate AI business proposals, then this is the right course for you.

Course overview

• Understand how probabilistic reasoning is applied to machine learning in business
• The advanced math behind machine learning and optimizations
• Architecture of AI systems
• Working with data modeling
• Accuracy, bias, and ethics
• Feedback for iterative design processes
• How to build a roadmap for integrating AI into corporate strategy

Pros 

• Very logical, well-structured framework with mentor support
• Interactive exercises and real-world projects have you come away with immediately implementable skills

Cons

• A little expensive for the amount of course content

Course duration 

• 4-8 weeks at 5 hrs/week

Level

• Advanced – Basic understanding of math, stats, exposure to business decision-making, and technical or IT projects.

Pricing

• $678 for 2 months of access

Source

AI courses for marketing 

AI in Marketing, by Udemy

Learn how to use AI tools to improve marketing efforts across multiple digital marketing channels. Gain hands-on experience with the latest AI marketing tools and how to introduce them into your marketing strategy.

This course gives you a broad overview of AI in marketing. If you want to know what AI can accomplish in marketing but aren’t ready for a deep dive yet, then this is a good course to start with.

Course overview

• How to use ChatGPT and marketing-specific prompts
• AI for branding
• AI for content marketing
• AI for design
• AI for social media marketing
• AI for paid social media
• AI for paid search
• AI for SEO

Pros 

• Useful templates and good AI tool recommendations
• Concise overview of what AI offers to marketers

Cons

• Could use more case studies 

Course duration 

• 1.5 hrs of video content

Level

• Beginner – Requires a basic understanding of digital marketing channels and how they work.

Pricing

• $54.99

Source

AI Marketing, by University of Virginia

Learn how to use AI to capture and leverage customer data to develop valuable personalized experiences. Marketing managers need to understand AI and how it fits into the modern marketing canvas.

This course is a good introduction to AI and has a strong focus on using it to personalize customer engagement strategies.

Course overview

• Overview of AI
• Customer data foundations and metrics
• Personalizing customer engagement
• Implementing an AI marketing strategy

Pros 

• Gives just enough overview of foundational AI tech and then dives into marketing applications
• Live online sessions

Cons

• Because the sessions are live, scheduling could be a challenge

Course duration 

• 6 months, 6-8 hrs/week

Level

• Intermediate – No formal prerequisites, but a background in marketing will be helpful.

Pricing

• $1,500

Source

Source

Artificial Intelligence AI Marketing to Grow your Business, by Udemy

Learn how to use the best AI tools and ChatGPT to boost your sales and marketing efforts.

This course focuses mostly on using AI to create and optimize marketing content and automation of marketing processes. If you want to create better marketing content faster, then this course will teach you how to do that.

Course overview

• Use ChatGPT to optimize campaigns and create marketing content
• Use AI to optimize marketing emails
• Use chat and messaging to automate customer service and sales
• Automate social media marketing
• Use AI to optimize your SEO

Pros 

• Practical, actionable training
• Broad coverage of different marketing content types

Cons

• Doesn’t explain the underlying technology of AI

Course duration 

• 3.5 hrs of video content

Level

• Intermediate – no prerequisites

Pricing

• $79.99

Source

Source

AI courses for natural language processing

Natural Language Processing with Machine Learning, by Educative

This course teaches you how to use NLP to process text data, create word embeddings, and use long short-term memory networks (LSTM) for semantic analysis and machine translation. 

Course overview

• ​​How NLP works
• Industry applications of NLP
• Word embeddings
• Language models
• RNN / LSTM
• Text classification

Pros 

• Text-based, so no long videos to sit through
• No IDE setup is required as all coding happens in the cloud

Cons

• Some may have preferred the content to be delivered by video

Course duration 

• 9 hours – projects will take longer

Level

• Intermediate/Advanced – Must be familiar with TensorFlow and Python.

Pricing

• $29.33/month billed annually

Source

Source

AI courses for big data analytics/machine learning 

AI Product Manager, by Udacity

Learn how to create data sets and neural networks and use them along with machine learning in real-world business applications.

Course overview

• ​​Introduction to AI in business
• Creating a high-quality training data set
• Building a model – Learn how a NN produces a decision and how “training” works
• Measuring impact and updating models

Pros 

• Practical projects using Appen and Google AutoML
• Good community and trainer support

Cons

• Would be better if it included training on more platforms

Course duration 

• 2 months

Level

• Intermediate – No prerequisites but intended for professionals who have some familiarity with product management and basic data analysis.

Pricing

• $678 for 2 months of access

Source

Neural Networks and Deep Learning, by Coursera

Learn the foundational technologies of a neural network and how this applies to deep learning. The course covers practical ways you can use deep learning and machine learning in your own projects.

If you have only very basic Python skills and want an introduction to ML, then this is a good place to start.

Course overview

• Introduction to deep learning
• Neural networks basics
• Shallow neural networks
• Deep neural networks

Pros 

• Concepts are very well explained

Cons

• Programming assignments aren’t challenging enough

Course duration 

• 24 hrs over 4 weeks

Level

• Intermediate – Basic Python skills and a basic grasp of linear algebra, ML, and computer science

Pricing

• Free

Source

Machine Learning A-Z, by Udemy

Learn how to use Python and R to create machine learning algorithms. This course teaches how to use ML in deep and reinforcement learning and NLP.

It also covers how to preprocess data sets in Python so that they can be used in your ML models.

Course overview

• ​​Data preprocessing
• Different forms of regression
• Data classification
• Association and reinforcement learning
• Natural language processing
• Deep learning
• Dimensionality reduction
• Model selection and boosting

Pros 

• Concepts and code examples are well explained
• Great practical examples and exercises

Cons

• Some parts of the code need updating

Course duration 

• 2 months

Level

• Beginner-Intermediate – Would be helpful to have some linear math, calculus, and Python experience. Not essential, though.

Pricing

• $109.99

Source

Machine Learning Crash Course, by Google

If you have programming knowledge but want to really get into machine learning, then this course from Google is ideal. This course helps you learn how to use TensorFlow in practical ML applications.

Course overview

• ​​ML concepts
• Data processing
• Regularization and regression
• Neural networks
• ML engineering
• ML systems in the real world

Pros 

• Free in-depth ML course
• Great real-world examples
• Good video and written content

Cons

• Too technical for most beginners

Course duration 

• 15 hours

Level

• Intermediate/Advanced – Prerequisites include Python, basic ML understanding, and some Numpy and Pandas basics. Also requires basic linear algebra, stats, and calculus.

Pricing

• Free

Source

Source

AI course for data science 

Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, by Simplilearn

This is an intensive dual master’s course that goes in-depth into artificial intelligence and Data Science. The computer science course is offered in collaboration with IBM and offers an industry-recognized certification.

Course overview

• ​​Machine learning
• Neural networks
• Deep learning
• Descriptive statistics
• Inferential statistics
• Exploratory data analysis

Pros 

• Industry-recognized certification from IBM
• Very in-depth coverage of AI and ML

Cons

• Long course

Course duration 

• 400+ hours

Level

• Advanced – Basic understanding of programming and stats. A computer science background is helpful.

Pricing

• $2,500 – 1 year access

Source

Source

Source

AI courses for health care and medicine

AI In Healthcare, by Udacity

Learn how to use AI to build and use predictive models to transform patient outcomes. This course covers how to use AI with 2D and 3D medical images and health records to optimize clinical trial testing decisions.

Course overview

• ​​Applying AI to 2D medical imaging data
• Applying AI to 3D medical imaging data
• Applying AI to EHR data
• Applying AI to wearable device data

Pros 

• Covers just about everything a professional needs to know in this field
• Good balance between coverage and depth

Cons

• Course is quite long

Course duration 

• 4 months

Level

• Advanced – Intermediate Python and Numpy knowledge, and experience with machine learning

Pricing

• $399/month or $1,356 for 4 months of access

Source

Designing and Implementing AI Solutions for Health Care, by Harvard University

If you want a higher level of understanding of the capabilities and pitfalls of implementing AI in the healthcare sector, start here. The course covers key principles and concepts regarding the healthcare problems that AI can address.

Course overview

• Technical aspects, key principles, and potential pitfalls of AI in healthcare
• What healthcare problems can AI address?
• Operational requirements for successful AI deployment
• Assess organizational needs, capabilities, and structure to leverage AI
• Anticipate and address bias in AI

Pros 

• Great training for healthcare managers that need to make strategic decisions regarding AI

Cons

• Only addresses the high-level strategic implementation of AI

Course duration 

• 3 weeks, 10-12 hrs/week

Level

• Advanced – Intermediate Python and Numpy experience combined with experience with machine learning

Pricing

• $2,150

Source

AI courses for ethics and responsible AI

Ethics in AI and Data Science, by edX

This course covers how to build and incorporate ethical principles and frameworks in your AI and data science technology. Learn how to build trust in your AI solutions by adding transparency and other AI ethical best practices.

Course overview

• ​​Ethical challenges and impacts of AI and data science
• Business and societal dynamics in an AI world
• How to start setting up your AI principles framework
• Practical strategies
• Challenges of building an AI framework
• How to put responsibility and ethics into practice

Pros 

• Gives a comprehensive overview of the ethics of AI in business and organizations

Cons

• Course duration is a bit long for the amount covered

Course duration 

• 6 weeks, 1-2 hrs/week

Level

• Introductory – no prerequisites

Pricing

• Free or $229 for the Verified Track

Source

Ethical AI, by Udacity

This course teaches users how to apply ethics to AI technologies to minimize bias and maximize fairness and transparency. It addresses how ethics should be built into AI solutions at a foundational level.

Course overview

• ​​Introduction to ethical AI
• AI ethics for organizations
• Identifying bias toward fairness
• Mitigating bias toward fairness
• Transparency, trust, and explainability

Pros 

• Good technical explanations of how to implement ethics in AI

Cons

• Would be more useful if there was more than one course project

Course duration 

• 1 month, 1-2 hrs/week

Level

• Intermediate – should have experience with AI systems, ML models, basic data parsing and visualization, creating efficient scripts, and the AI lifecycle.

Pricing

• $399 per month while accessing course material

Source

AI course for financial analysis and trading 

Financial Engineering and Artificial Intelligence in Python, by Udemy

Learn how to use AI for financial engineering, investment portfolio optimization, and algorithmic trading. Use your Python programming skills with AI to build machine learning models with financial applications and a trading bot.

Course overview

• ​​Financial basics – obtaining data
• Time series analysis
• Portfolio optimization
• Algorithmic trading
• Reinforcement learning

Pros 

• In-depth explanations of applying AI to finance
• Teaches you how to program your own trading bot

Cons

• Would be nice if it also covered derivatives

Course duration 

• 21.5 hrs of video content

Level

• Advanced – Good Python, matrix arithmetic, and probability knowledge

Pricing

• $79.99

Source

Online AI course comparison table

Source

Why should I learn about artificial intelligence? 

If you’re new to the concept of AI, it can be intimidating. The reality is that AI is fast becoming an integral part of how companies and organizations run. To operate successfully in this environment, you’ll need at least some knowledge of AI.

It’s good for your resume too. Learning how to use AI-powered tools puts you at the top of the pile when applying for jobs at companies that are implementing AI in their business.

If you already have some programming knowledge, adding AI to your skillset is a huge boost to your value in your company. It will enable you to better evaluate or even create the kinds of tools your company needs to leverage the power of AI.

How in-depth you go with AI training really depends on your role in the business or the use case you’re upskilling for. The courses we reviewed cover the main areas of AI training, namely:

• General AI understanding of concepts like machine learning and neural networks
• How AI can be used to optimize business processes
• How to manage the ethical implications of AI in your business
• How AI can be used in marketing and sales
• How AI can be applied in finance and trading
• How AI can be used with machine learning to analyze and work with large data sets

How to choose the right course for AI

Before committing to any of the courses above, check the following:

1. Does it actually teach what you need to learn?
2. Do you have the necessary prerequisite skills?
3. Do the schedule and time required fit your schedule?
4. Is it presented live, or can you learn at your own pace?
5. Does the price fit your budget?
6. Do I need a certificate of completion, and does the course offer it?

Conclusion

When choosing an AI course, pay attention to the prerequisites required. Jumping in at the deep end can be very frustrating and a waste of your time. Human intelligence needs training just like AI does.

Be prepared to do introductory courses first to lay a good foundation for your AI skills and then progress to more advanced online learning.

Have you completed any good courses we may have left out? Let us know, and we’ll add them to our list.

---