Guided Online Training in Claude and ChatGPT from the Model Creators Themselves
Recently, I wrote about the importance for you to be prepared to succeed in the AI world coming our way.
AI Fluency
One important step you can take right now is to become fluent in AI. By AI fluency, I mean the ability to understand model strengths and limitations, write effective prompts, interpret outputs critically, and use AI tools responsibly.
Well, good news: Anthropic and OpenAI academies make the training and learning curves more manageable than you might think. And you can put their training completion certificates on LinkedIn or your resume. These certificates confirm that you completed a course; they are not industry certifications, professional licenses, or accredited academic credentials.
If you are already familiar with these free, self-paced academies, the rest of this post will not surprise you.
Anthropic Academy
Let me tell you first about Anthropic Academy. Its courses include:
tutorials,
hands-on exercises, and
interactive learning experiences.
At the time of writing, the Academy provides free access to its course materials in a structured and organized format.
Use these three links to see:
At the time of writing this, you do not need an Anthropic account to access Anthropic Academy. The courses are hosted on Skilljar so when you sign up for your free Anthropic Academy account you are getting a Skilljar account for access.
If you want to use Claude AI services, either to do some of the courses’ suggested homeworks or after completing the courses, you would need to create a separate Anthropic account at claude.ai.
OpenAI Academy
The OpenAI Academy provides courses covering practical use of ChatGPT and related models. You can see the courses and set up an account at https://academy.openai.com.
The OpenAI Academy emphasis is applied literacy rather than abstract theory. Many introductory courses are free but some are advanced or cohort-based offerings that may have fees depending on structure and depth.
Note: Some courses are available on demand, some are Events scheduled for a certain time in the future. Many scheduled Events are later made available as recordings so you can replay them later on demand.
OpenAI Academy courses are intended for:
Individuals building AI fluency.
Professionals wanting structured upskilling.
Small-business operators evaluating AI capability.
Developers learning to integrate OpenAI APIs.
Course offerings evolve over time, but they typically include:
Foundations of generative AI.
Prompt design and model interaction techniques.
Using ChatGPT for productivity.
Responsible AI use and safety considerations.
Developer tracks covering APIs and integrations.
Takeaways for Your Path to AI Fluency
These academies do have limitations you should be aware of:
Their certificates do not guarantee employability.
Course offerings may change frequently.
AI platform policies evolve over time so your experience with Anthropic Academy and OpenAI Academy may differ than what we described here.
Also, remember that many of the courses are platform-specific trainings so the skills you learn may not fully transfer across all AI systems.
However, if your goal is to increase your AI fluency at low cost, Anthropic Academy and OpenAI Academy are high quality and easily accessible starting points. They both offer structured curricula and completion certificates directly from the companies building the models.
Go if:
> You want structured AI training from the model creators themselves.
> You value completion certificates issued by the platform provider.
> You prefer guided curriculum.
No-Go if:
> You need accredited certification.
> You expect guaranteed job placement.
> You want cross-platform, vendor-neutral AI training.