The Applied AI Certification for Business Professionals
Vendor-neutral certifications based on real work and independent expert review. We help professionals demonstrate practical AI judgment and help employers assess, develop, and recognize it across roles and industries.
A program of Clever Analytics.
Three Certification Tiers
Each tier reflects a distinct level of applied AI competency in business contexts.
AI Associate
Start here. Build foundational AI competency — applying AI tools effectively in day-to-day business workflows across any role or industry.
Hours, weeks & renewal
- 6 weeks, self-paced: 24 lessons and about 6 hours of guided reading and audio, plus your own portfolio work.
- Renewal is $195 a year and includes access to noncredit courses through approved educational institutions.
AI Practitioner
Builds on AI Associate. Design and oversee AI-enabled business processes with deeper judgment in prompt crafting, workflow automation, and responsible AI use.
Hours, weeks & renewal
- 6 weeks, self-paced: 20 lessons and about 6.5 hours of guided reading and audio, plus two portfolio artifacts.
- Renewal is $295 a year and includes access to noncredit courses through approved educational institutions.
AI Strategist
Builds on AI Practitioner. Set AI strategy and governance at organizational scale — advanced decision analysis, boundary discernment, and team-level translation.
Hours, weeks & renewal
- 8 weeks, self-paced: 9 lessons and about 3.5 hours of guided reading and audio — the lightest lesson load and the heaviest portfolio and review load of the three tiers.
- Renewal is $395 a year and includes access to noncredit courses through approved educational institutions.
Full Certification Package
The complete pathway — AI Associate, AI Practitioner, and AI Strategist. Progress through all three tiers at your own pace.
Includes all three tiers: AI Associate, AI Practitioner, and AI Strategist. Progress through each tier sequentially at your own pace.
Pricing in USD. Annual renewal is $195 for AI Associate, $295 for AI Practitioner, and $395 for AI Strategist, and includes noncredit courses through approved educational institutions.
Utah Companies May Qualify for Up to 40% Reimbursement
For-profit companies in Utah may be eligible for up to 40% reimbursement on certification costs through the Custom Fit program — a state-sponsored workforce development initiative. AI Certification Pathways qualifies as an eligible training provider, meaning your team’s certification investment could be significantly offset.
Eligibility and reimbursement amounts are determined by the state program. Reach out to learn whether your company qualifies and how to apply.
How It Works
Learning Lab Practice
Self-paced, guided practice with real business scenarios. Develop expert judgment through hands-on exercises — not passive lectures.
Portfolio of Real Work
Curate real-world artifacts from your own context. Each submission demonstrates applied expertise, evaluated against rigorous quality standards.
Expert Review
Expert reviewers evaluate against rubric standards.
Credential Issued
Vendor-neutral certification, dual-approved.
Annual Renewal
CE credits maintain your standing each year.
Courses Build Knowledge. We Make Competency Visible.
Executive education programs teach leaders to think about AI strategy. That foundation is valuable. We complete the loop — turning what was learned into a verified, portable credential that proves the competency shows up in real work.
From Framework to Evidence
A course gives you the AI Canvas to plan with. We assess whether your actual work meets a published competency standard — so the framework becomes demonstrated practice.
From Attendance to Ability
A completion certificate says you finished a course. Our credential adds the layer a certificate can't — a expert reviewer examined your real work and confirmed you can apply AI competently.
From Knowledge to Current Competency
Course knowledge can drift as tools evolve. Our annual renewal with continuing education — sourced from higher-education partners — keeps competency current and independently verified.
Proven Frameworks
Our certification isn't just a test — it's built on structured frameworks that develop and measure applied AI competency.
The Awareness Arc
A narrative learning framework that moves enrollees from problem awareness to behavior shift, ensuring each module produces a concrete change in how they work.
Competency Model
Five measurable dimensions: adoption, confidence, drift awareness, prompt judgment, and boundary discernment. Pre-measure and post-measure show the growth a portfolio can't.
Team Translation Framework
Every module produces three artifacts: a personal behavior shift, a team-level explanation, and a ready-to-use meeting phrase. Competency that transfers from individual to team.
Real-Work Portfolio Assessment
Candidates submit actual work from their professional context. Certified expert reviewers evaluate against published rubrics. No synthetic scenarios, no auto-grading.
Setting Best Practices and Standards for AI in the Workplace
We don't just certify individuals — we define what competent, responsible AI use looks like in a professional setting. Our rubrics, frameworks, and review standards serve as the reference point organizations use to set their own AI usage policies, hiring benchmarks, and team expectations.
Documented Standards
Every credential is evaluated against documented, versioned standards. Organizations can reference our tier definitions, capability domains, and assessment principles for internal performance reviews, AI usage policies, and team-level competency expectations.
View Our StandardsResponsible AI by Default
Our certification standards embed responsible AI principles — boundary discernment, drift awareness, verification habits — into every tier. Certified professionals carry these standards into their organizations as practice, not theory.
A Guide for Employers
Employers don't need to build AI competency frameworks from scratch. Our tier structure, capability domains, and review standards give them a vetted, vendor-neutral reference for hiring, promotion, and team development decisions.
Future-Proof Principles
Competency that doesn't expire when a vendor changes its product.
Vendor-Neutral by Design
We assess process and judgment, not product proficiency. When tools change, the competency holds.
Renewable, Not Permanent
Annual renewal with continuing education from higher-education partners keeps skills current and verified.
Expert-Reviewed, Not Auto-Graded
AI is advisory only. Expert reviewers make every credential decision. Judgment doesn't degrade with model updates.
Provenance-Tracked
Every artifact carries an immutable chain. Trust doesn't expire because the evidence doesn't disappear.
Publicly Verifiable
Every credential has a verification token. Employers and partners can validate competency instantly, years after issuance.
Transferable Across Roles
Competency validates applied skill, not tool mastery. It moves with the professional across roles, teams, and industries.
Use Cases: Where Certified AI Competency Shows Up
Prompt crafting for brand-consistent content, evaluation harnesses for output quality, boundary discernment for when human creativity is the right tool.
Workflow automation design, AI-powered analysis of operational data, drift awareness for catching when automated outputs go wrong.
AI-assisted candidate screening with boundary discernment for bias risk, prompt judgment for equitable job descriptions, verification of AI-generated summaries.
Decision analysis with AI support, evaluation harnesses for financial model outputs, confidence calibration for when to trust AI-generated insights.
AI-assisted support workflows, prompt crafting for consistent responses, knowing when AI is the wrong tool for sensitive customer situations.
AI governance frameworks, responsible AI implementation, team-level competency standards for hiring and promotion decisions.
Verify a Credential
Public credential verification by token. Confirms holder, tier, and status.
Verify NowCE Course Directory
Education-partner continuing education mapped to recognized competency areas for annual renewal.
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