Artificial Intelligence / News

Salesforce’s New Free AI Certifications: Your Guide to Courses and Premium Training

By Sasha Semjonova

In case you somehow missed it, this year’s Dreamforce was all about Agentforce. If you thought that Salesforce had already put all its chips into AI, then last week was certainly a surprise!

In addition to the multiple announcements regarding the new Agentforce platform, Salesforce has announced that they’ll be offering free premium instructor-led courses, as well as AI certifications throughout 2025. Here’s what we know…

Addressing the Growing AI Skills Gap

In order to support the current and upcoming wave of AI tools and implementations, Salesforce has announced that they’re investing $50M into initiatives designed to upskill workforces in a bid to address the AI skills gap.

This includes offering a mixture of virtual, hands-on workshops, instructor-led courses, and free AI certification exams.

Virtual, Hands-On Workshops

Starting November 2024, Salesforce plans to offer the following virtual hands-on workshops:

  • How to Build Your First Agent
  • Run Your Sales Organization Using Agentforce Sales Agents
  • Run Your Service Organization Using Agentforce Service Agents
  • Get Started with Copilot
  • Get Started with Prompt Builder

Salesforce have made it clear that this will be a limited-time offer, offered from November 1st, 2024 to December 31st, 2025. Be sure to check out the full list of eligibility requirements on the Trailhead FAQ page.

Instructor-Led Courses

Also starting in November, Trailhead will introduce a new three-day instructor-led course that teaches attendees how to use out-of-the-box Salesforce AI products, including Agentforce.

These courses will be taught in person in Salesforce’s AI Centres in San Francisco and London, with additional locations opening in the AMER and APAC regions. They will be offered once in San Francisco and once in London, each quarter.

Salesforce have, once again, made it clear that this will be a limited-time offer, offered from November 1st, 2024 to December 31st, 2025. Be sure to check out the full list of eligibility requirements on the Trailhead FAQ page.

Free AI Certifications

Last but not least, the AI Associate and AI Specialist certification exams are available for free starting September 23, 2024, through December 31, 2025.

If you’ve already registered or completed your exam, don’t worry! Individuals (excluding employees or MVPs) who have registered for the Salesforce Certified AI Associate exam on or after 8:00 am PST September 23, 2024, will receive a refund via the payment method they used.

For the AI Specialist exam, all individuals (excluding employees or MVPs) who have registered for the Salesforce Certified AI Specialist exam will receive a refund via the payment method they used, regardless of the exam schedule date.

It’s important to note that retakes of either exam will not be free, being priced at $50 USD for the AI Associate and $100 for the AI Specialist, respectively.

How to Sign Up

To register for the AI Associate or the AI Specialist Certification, follow these steps:

  • Go to Webassessor and log in to your account. If you’ve never taken a certification before, you will need to make one.
  • Click on “Register For An Exam” at the top.
  • You will find the AI Associate under “Associate Exams” and the AI Specialist under “Administrator Exams”. You can choose to take the exam online or in a test center.
  • Click on “Register”.
  • Select the date and time you would like to take the exam.
  • Click on “Check Out”.
  • Click the “Done” button. You should then receive an email confirming your details.

Self-Paced Resources

Of course, free AI training continues to be provided by Trailhead. Not sure where to start? Check out these resources:

Summary

This initiative is a rising tide that lifts all boats. Not only does it support educating the wider Salesforce ecosystem in an area where currently very little expertise exists, but it also brings more focus to how Salesforce is bringing AI to market through their new products. This includes Copilot Studio, Data Cloud, and the newly announced agentforce.

Salesforce has been a leader in AI for close to a decade, and this is its chance to further push its messaging across the Salesforce ecosystem and beyond.

The Author

Sasha Semjonova

Sasha is the Video Production Manager and a Salesforce Reporter at Salesforce Ben.

Comments:

    Alex
    September 18, 2024 10:41 pm
    Seems to be confirmed : Q: What AI certification exams are free through December 31, 2025 A: The AI Associate and AI Specialist certification exams are available for free starting September 23, 2024 through December 31, 2025. https://trailhead.salesforce.com/fr/help?article=AI-Training-and-Certifications-for-All-FAQ
    Bob
    September 28, 2024 1:48 am
    What if we took the AI Specialist exam at Dreamforce but fell short? They announced after taking it at Dreamforce that the exam would be offered for free. Do we also get the free offer? I attempted to schedule the exam again and it was attempting to charge $100.
    Sreenivas GANJI
    October 17, 2024 9:34 pm
    Where do I register my account? I didn't find any options.

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