Generative AI has grown to become an essential skill for today’s digital professionals, creators, and problem-solvers. As industries worldwide adopt AI-driven solutions, there’s an increasing need for hands-on learning that’s accessible, practical, and industry-relevant. If you’re looking to upskill in this rapidly growing field, you’re in luck. We’ve curated a list of the top 10 free generative AI (GenAI) certificate courses from leading industry experts like IBM, Analytics Vidhya, Google Cloud, and more. These courses offer flexible, self-paced learning, and shareable certificates that you can add to your portfolio, LinkedIn profile, or CV. So hop on, and start exploring.
Why Learn Generative AI in 2025?
Generative AI is transforming how we create content, build applications, and automate tasks. Whether you’re a student, a software engineer, a product manager, or simply an AI enthusiast, these free courses can help you:
- Understand the core principles and creative capabilities of GenAI.
- Build AI models for text, image, and code generation.
- Use generative AI tools like ChatGPT, DALL·E, and Python frameworks.
- Enhance career opportunities across tech, content, design, and product domains.
So let’s begin exploring some of the best generative AI courses out there which can get you a certificate for free.
Beginner-Level Generative AI Courses with Free Certificate
For those of you who are absolutely new to the field of generative AI, and wish to test the waters, here are some courses to get you started.
1. Guide to Vibe Coding in Windsurf – Analytics Vidhya
Duration: 40 minutes
Modules: 1
Topics Covered:
- Introduction to Vibe Coding
- Setting up the Windsurf environment
- Hands-on tasks to experience vibe coding
Vibe Coding is one of the latest generative AI techniques that lets people with no coding knowledge to write complete code through natural language prompts. This quick-start course from Analytics Vidhya introduces beginners to Windsurf and the concept of Vibe Coding. Windsurf is an intuitive, no-code, visual environment that lets users experiment with AI-generated workflows. Hence, this course is ideal for AI enthusiasts, aspiring prompt engineers, and low-code developers.
You can access the course here.
2. Generative AI: Fundamentals, Applications, and Challenges – University of Michigan
Duration: 2 hours
Modules: 3
Topics Covered:
- Basics of Generative AI
- Applications of Generative AI
- Risks and ethical considerations
Explore the key building blocks of Generative AI, its practical use cases, and ethical challenges through this beginner-friendly course. The University of Michigan has designed the course to provide a conceptual and critical understanding of GenAI’s role in business and society.
You can access the course here.
3. Generative AI – A Way of Life – Analytics Vidhya
Duration: 4 hours
Modules: 5
Topics Covered:
- Introduction to Generative AI
- Applications in daily life
- Tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and DALL-E
- Hands-on projects
- Ethical considerations
A highly practical course designed for content creators, entrepreneurs, professionals, and individuals who want to boost their productivity using GenAI tools. It introduces you to the world of generative AI, teaching you to use tools like ChatGPT, DALL·E, and Midjourney in your daily lives. Enroll today and learn to generate text, images, and videos without any coding skills.
You can access the course here.
4. Generative AI: Introduction and Applications – IBM
Duration: 5 hours
Modules: 3
Topics Covered:
- Understanding generative AI and its capabilities
- Applications in various industries
- Overview of tools like GPT, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, and Synthesia
This foundational course from IBM walks you through key generative models, including transformers and diffusion models. It not only introduces learners to the capabilities and features of common GenAI models, it also provides hands-on labs to apply the concepts learned. IBM’s GenAI tools learned in this course can also be applied to businesses and enterprise workflows later.
You can access the course here.
5. Introduction to Generative AI – Duke University
Duration: 4 weeks (10 hours/week)
Modules: 4
Topics Covered:
- Fundamentals of generative AI
- Prompt engineering
- Building solutions with generative AI
- Practical applications using tools like GitHub Copilot, DALL-E, and OpenAI
A comprehensive course that marks an entry point to GenAI with extensive learning on language models, diffusion techniques, and multimodality. This course is designed for beginners with no prior knowledge of generative AI, providing a friendly introduction to prepare them for further exploration. Ideal for students or professionals seeking an academic-style introduction with depth.
You can access the course here.

6. Build Products 10x Faster with GenAI – Analytics Vidhya
Duration: 30 minutes
Modules: 1
Topics Covered:
- Accelerating product development using generative AI
- Design thinking and ideation
- AI-powered productivity hacks
Learn how GenAI can help speed up product development, design thinking, and ideation in this short course by Analytics Vidhya. The course also includes use-case walkthroughs and AI-powered productivity hacks for startups and product teams.
You can access the course here.
7. Creating Problem-Solving Agents with GenAI for Actions – Analytics Vidhya
Duration: 1 hour
Modules: 1
Topics Covered:
- Building autonomous agents using generative models
- Understanding action composition
- Structuring agents for intelligent task execution
Dive into building autonomous agents using generative models in this intermediate-level course by Analytics Vidhya. Understand action composition, AI workflows, and how to structure agents that can reason, solve, and execute tasks intelligently.
You can access the course here.
8. Building Generative AI-Powered Applications with Python – IBM
Duration: 11 hours
Modules: 3
Topics Covered:
- Integrating generative AI models into real-world applications using Python
- Working with OpenAI APIs
- Prompt engineering
- Deploying generative solutions using modern frameworks
Through this course by IBM, you can learn how to integrate GenAI models into real-world apps using Python. It’s a full-fledged course covering basic topics like how to access OpenAI APIs to advanced ones like how to deploy generative solutions using modern frameworks.
You can access the course here.
Advanced-Level Generative AI Courses with Free Certificate
9. Create Image Captioning Models – Google Cloud
Duration: 1 hour
Modules: 1
Topics Covered:
- Components of an image captioning model
- Training and evaluating image captioning models
- Generating captions for images
Learn to build custom deep learning pipelines for automated image captioning. This short course is hands-on and uses TensorFlow/Keras to develop models that combine computer vision and NLP. It covers topics like encoders and decoders, how to build custom deep learning pipelines, and model training and evaluation.
You can access the course here.
10. Advanced Chatbots with Deep Learning and Python – Packt
Duration: 3 hours
Modules: 3
Topics Covered:
- Differences between conventional and AI-based chatbots
- Enhancing chatbot functionalities with deep learning
- Building chatbots using Python, TensorFlow, and Keras
- Architecture and workflow of encoder-decoder models
This hands-on course from Packt explores building sophisticated chatbot systems with Pthon. It teaches you to use TensorFlow, Keras, LSTM, Seq2Seq, and encoder-decoder networks. If you are someone who wants to build generative AI chatbots that can hold human-like conversations, this course is perfect for you.
You can access the course here.
Conclusion
Whether you’re just beginning your journey into Generative AI or looking to build real-world applications, these top 10 free GenAI courses are excellent resources to sharpen your skills. From low-code AI tools to deep learning with Python, this list covers a wide spectrum of GenAI courses that are available absolutely free. So, take your pick, get certified, and power your GenAI-driven future!
Login to continue reading and enjoy expert-curated content.