Course spotlight: Coursera’s Google AI Essentials
Our assessment: Best for beginners
Coursera’s Google AI Essentials stands out as a flexible, beginner-friendly course that shows how to use generative AI to speed up everyday work tasks such as writing emails, summarizing meetings or solving math problems.
- Learn prompt engineering techniques such as few-shot prompting.
- Identify generative AI’s potential biases and see how to reduce harm.
- Determine whether generative AI is right for the tasks you need to do.
- Plan ahead on how to keep up with the rapidly developing field of generative AI.
Earlier this year, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang predicted that generative AI is “closing the technology divide” in part because of prompt engineering, or the ability to call information and actions from the AI model through natural language. Programming remains an important skill, he said, but “We all need to learn how to prompt AIs.”
What is prompt engineering?
Since generative AI interprets natural language, prompt engineering is the process of structuring and choosing the right words for the model to interpret. Prompt engineering can be deceptively simple, sometimes involving directly telling the AI model what audience it should write for, or emphasizing when an element of the prompt is “really, really important.” Prompt engineering can seem mysterious, but there often isn’t much of what is typically thought of as engineering involved at all. However, prompt engineering does intersect with a lot of other elements of working with generative AI, all of which involve a lot to explore and learn.
SEE: We’ve curated the best courses for learning about AI generally.
While there are a lot of courses on prompt engineering, we’ve chosen modules that specifically result in certificates of completion. You can use these certifications to work toward your professional goals. Certifications can be included on your resume to show initiative and continuing education. We based our selections on reviews, community sentiment, the depth and variety of topics offered and the practicality of the information.
Other good resources for exploring prompt engineering, which may or may not include options for receiving a certification, are Learn Prompting and DeepLearning.AI.
Disclaimer: This article is sponsored by Coursera.
Best prompt engineering certifications: Comparison table
Google AI Essentials: Best for beginners
One of the elements this course covers is to “Write clear and specific prompts to get the output you want,” but this course is also a good overview of generative AI and results in a certificate of completion. This course and certification were produced as part of Grow with Google, a workforce training initiative; therefore, you can be reassured Google quality assurance applies to the material.
This course consists of these modules:
- Introduction to AI.
- Maximize Productivity with AI Tools.
- Discover the Art of Prompt Engineering.
- Use AI Responsibly.
- Stay Ahead of the AI Curve.
Pricing
This certification requires a Coursera account, which for an individual costs $49-$79 per month with a 7-day free trial, depending on the course and plan.
Duration
Coursera states the course takes 9 hours to complete.
- Google approved.
- Doesn’t take long to complete.
- Covers a wide range of topics.
- Doesn’t focus on only prompt engineering.
- Not very technical.
Prerequisites
This course has no prerequisites.
The Complete Prompt Engineering for AI Bootcamp (2024): Best for established professionals
The Complete Prompt Engineering for AI Bootcamp (2024) is one of the most up-to-date prompt engineering courses we found on Udemy. The instructors most recently updated it in May 2024, adding information about the ChatGPT desktop app and other information. This is a hands-on course for coders — it includes how to use Python, Langchain, the Stable Diffusion manager AUTOMATIC1111 for image generation and more to get the most out of generative AI, as well as instructions on how to refine prompts, teach an AI to perform a role and more.
Pricing
This course typically costs $109.99, but it will sometimes be on sale.
Duration
This course includes 17 hours of video, as well as assignments you will need to complete at your own pace.
- Thorough and hands-on.
- Course materials are updated often.
- Instructors work in the field of prompt engineering.
- Lists of example prompts are included in course materials.
- Some reviewers say the content can be repetitive.
- Relatively expensive.
Prerequisites
To take this course, you should be able to read and write in Python.
Generative AI for Data Engineers Specialization: Best for data engineers
