Google is launching an AI Professional Certificate on Coursera and offering free access to US small businesses
By Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer, Coursera
Today, Google introduced the first AI Professional Certificationis expanding its GenAI catalog on Coursera which has already attracted nearly three million subscribers worldwide. This certification helps professionals move beyond the basics and integrate AI into their daily work with practical, job-ready skills. Every registered student will receive three months of free access to Google AI Pro to support their hands-on learning and practice using Google’s most powerful models.
To help increase AI training across the country, Google is offering US small businesses free access to certification, as well as additional tools to support adoption, such as Google Workspace Business Standard.
This comes as AI fluency is quickly becoming a basic expectation across roles and industries. More than half of the jobs posted asking for AI skills are now outside of the IT and computer science fields, underscoring how widely AI is shaping the workforce. Yet a new study from Google and IPSOS reveals only 40% of American workers use AI at work.
To help close that gap, Google analyzed hundreds of job descriptions and partnered with employers to develop a program focused on universal, transferable skills.
“The Google AI Professional Certificate translates the power of AI into tangible economic opportunity for every business and employee. Top employers and universities across the country will use this training to help their teams and students succeed,” said Lisa Gevelber, Founder, Grow with Google. “By providing this program at no cost to US small businesses, we are ensuring that businesses of all sizes have the latest AI tools and training to empower their people, at all levels, with the AI knowledge they need to succeed in today’s workplace.”
Through seven short courses and a capstone, students collaborate with tools like Gemini, NotebookLM, and AI Studio to perform tasks across research, data analysis, content creation, and communication, all while learning directly from experts at Google.
Going beyond the basics, the certificate emphasizes hands-on learning, showing students how to use AI strategically to improve work and solve complex problems. Responsible use of AI is woven throughout the system, emphasizing the importance of human judgment when evaluating outcomes, managing risk, and making decisions.
Courses in the certificate include:
- Basics of AI – Understand the basic productive concepts of AI and learn how to evaluate AI results responsibly and ethically for professional use.
- AI for thinking and planning – Use AI to generate, refine, and transform ideas into structured, actionable project plans.
- AI for Research and Insights – Collect, integrate, and validate data from multiple sources to support faster and better informed decisions.
- AI for Writing and Communication – Create clear, engaging messages and adapt them to different audiences and the highest contexts.
- AI for Content Creation – Partner proactively with AI to create, organize, and analyze visual and multimedia assets.
- AI for data analysis – Transform complex data sets into clear insights and compelling visuals that guide better decision making.
- AI for Building Applications – Build a powerful AI solution to perform real workplace tasks using natural language.
By the end of the certificate, which can be completed in ten hours, students will have built a portfolio of work including reusable information, data-driven project plans, AI-generated research and virtual assets, and an AI-powered application.
With bite-sized content focused on skills that can be applied immediately, the certificate prepares working professionals who want to future-proof their careers, as well as organizations who want to develop teams.
We are proud to partner with Google to give students and small businesses more access to the advanced AI training needed to expand AI knowledge.
Subscribe to Google AI Professional Certification and learn more about free access to US small businesses today.
