Generative AIs like ChatGPT are becoming increasingly important in the workplace. Also, companies like Microsoft, OpenAI, and Google offer free online courses to learn about this technology.
Since its release, ChatGPT has had the professional world in mind, whether corporate or freelance, all of whom see it as an opportunity to increase their productivity. While many other generative AIs such as Bing Chat, Google Bard or Bloom are gradually emerging, skills related to artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly important in the world of work. And if studies predict that generative AIs like ChatGPT could eliminate almost 300 million jobs worldwide, developing them could in turn create new jobs (see our article).
However, these tools are not necessarily easy to learn, especially for people who are not very familiar with computers in general. It is not innate to be able to imagine all the possibilities offered to use the new features of work software – we are thinking of the integration of AI in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace – or to know how to “talk” to chatbots in order to do so achieve best results from them. Giving them the right “prompts” – a kind of command – to describe the desired result to them can really make all the difference! To make it easier for workers to learn this new technology, tech giants like OpenAI, Google and Microsoft have decided to offer free online courses. And this has nothing to do with the training and tutorials that influencers sell on social networks!
Free ChatGPT Training: Getting Started with Generative AI
In a blog post published on June 28, Microsoft announces the launch of free online courses on LinkedIn — owned by the Redmond-based company — on artificial intelligence. “Through this new course, employees will learn introductory AI concepts, including an overview of responsible AI frameworks,” the company explains. All users of the professional social network can access it via LinkedIn Learning – which includes 16,000 courses, most of which are accessible via premium subscriptions. Upon completion, participants receive “the first professional generative AI certificate in the e-learning market,” called Career Essentials. This will be certified but not certifying, meaning it will have whatever value companies are willing to give it. It shows the interest and care that the person has shown while also benefiting from the aura and legitimacy of Microsoft. For now, classes will only be in English, but the company will be adding Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Simplified Chinese and Japanese “over the next few months.” They will be available for free until 2025.
In parallel, the Redmond-based company will also launch a toolkit of downloadable content for educators, including a new course on AI developed by Microsoft Education for educators, as well as content on the practical use of AI. Finally, from July 17 to August 14, provided you speak English, it’s possible to take part in the Microsoft Learn AI Skills Challenge, a free technical training challenge to learn basic AI skills using Microsoft products and services. Here, too, participants receive a badge and a certificate of completion.
But not only Microsoft offers Internet users training courses to familiarize themselves with generative AI. Last May, OpenAI, in partnership with DeepLearning.AI, launched a free course called ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers to learn how to master ChatGPT. It lasts one hour and is intended for people with a solid knowledge of Python – one of the most widely used and recognized computer languages. The aim is for the participants to be able to find their way around the OpenAI API and develop new programs at the end. For its part, Google recently offered a free online course called “Introduction to Generative AI”. It is aimed at beginners and lasts 45 minutes. It explains to the participants how this technology is used and how it differs from traditional methods of machine learning. Again, they get a badge to exhibit on LinkedIn. Currently the content is only offered in English, but we can certainly hope that it will be offered in other languages in the future.