Most “best AI courses” lists send you to Coursera or Udemy, where “free” means “free to watch, pay $49 for the certificate.” Or they recommend 40-hour courses that assume you have nothing else going on.
Here’s what we actually wanted when we built these: short courses (1-2 hours each), no signup, no credit card, real skills you use the same day, and a certificate at the end. AI isn’t just the subject — it’s built into every lesson as your co-pilot.
We have 175+ courses now. These 15 are the ones we’d recommend to a friend.
Getting Started with AI
1. AI Fundamentals
If you’ve never used AI beyond asking ChatGPT random questions, start here. This course teaches you how AI actually works (without the math), when to use it, and when not to. By the end, you’ll know how to give AI clear instructions, evaluate its output, and integrate it into your daily workflow.
Best for: Anyone who wants to stop guessing and start using AI effectively.
Start the AI Fundamentals course →
2. Prompt Engineering
The single most useful AI skill. This course teaches you to write prompts that get consistent, high-quality results — not by memorizing templates, but by understanding how AI processes instructions. Covers structured prompting, few-shot examples, chain-of-thought reasoning, and system prompts.
Best for: Anyone who uses AI regularly and wants dramatically better results.
Start the Prompt Engineering course →
3. Vibe Coding with AI
The course that makes non-programmers dangerous. “Vibe coding” means describing what you want in plain English and letting AI write the code. This course teaches you to build real, working apps — landing pages, calculators, dashboards — without writing a single line of code yourself.
Best for: Non-technical people who want to build things, and developers who want to ship 10x faster.
Start the Vibe Coding course →
Career and Work
4. Workplace Survival with AI
Nobody teaches you the unwritten rules of office politics. This course does — with AI as your advisor. Covers navigating conflicts, handling difficult bosses, salary negotiation, performance reviews, and knowing when to stay vs. leave. Every lesson includes AI prompts that help you rehearse conversations and analyze situations before they happen.
Best for: Anyone who’s ever thought “I wish someone had told me this earlier” about work.
Start the Workplace Survival course →
5. AI for College Applications
College applications are one of the highest-stakes writing projects a teenager faces, and most families can’t afford a $5,000 admissions consultant. This course fills that gap with AI. Covers school selection, personal essays, activity lists, recommendation letters, financial aid applications, and decision-making — with AI helping at every step.
Best for: High school students and parents navigating college admissions.
Start the College Applications course →
6. Resume Writing with AI
Your resume gets 7 seconds of attention from a recruiter — and it has to pass an ATS filter before a human even sees it. This course teaches you to write resumes that do both, with AI helping you optimize keywords, quantify achievements, and tailor each application to the job description.
Best for: Job seekers who want more interviews from the same number of applications.
Start the Resume Writing course →
Tech and Development
7. AI for Debugging & Troubleshooting
Developers spend 30-50% of their time debugging. This course teaches the systematic process that separates “I spent 4 hours guessing” from “I found the root cause in 15 minutes.” Covers error message reading, the 5-step debugging process, common bug patterns (off-by-one, race conditions, null references), production debugging, and root cause analysis with the 5 Whys technique.
Best for: Developers who want to cut their debugging time in half.
8. AI for Python Automation
Every day, millions of people spend hours renaming files, processing spreadsheets, sending routine emails, and copying data between systems. A Python script could do all of that in seconds. This course teaches you to build those scripts — with AI writing the first draft and you refining it. Each lesson produces a working script you can use immediately.
Best for: Anyone who does repetitive computer tasks and knows basic Python.
Start the Python Automation course →
9. AI for Open Source Contribution
Open source contribution is the best way to build real-world programming experience — but getting started is intimidating. This course walks you through the entire process with AI assistance: finding the right project, understanding unfamiliar codebases, writing quality pull requests, and building your developer profile. By the end, you’ll have submitted at least one real contribution.
Best for: Developers who want to contribute to open source but don’t know where to start.
Start the Open Source course →
Business
10. AI for Restaurants & Food Service
Running a restaurant means handling menu engineering, food costs, staffing, marketing, reviews, and daily operations — often all at once. This course teaches restaurant owners and managers how AI can help with each of those areas. Covers menu pricing optimization, food cost analysis, staff scheduling, reputation management, and operational efficiency.
Best for: Restaurant owners, managers, and food service entrepreneurs.
Start the Restaurants course →
11. AI for Salon & Beauty Business
Salon owners are skilled at their craft but often struggle with the business side: booking, client retention, social media, pricing, and team management. This course covers all of it with AI-powered strategies. Each lesson includes ready-to-use AI prompts for marketing, client communication, and business operations.
Best for: Salon owners, barbers, estheticians, and beauty professionals.
Start the Salon & Beauty course →
12. AI for Small Business
The all-purpose course for small business owners. Covers business planning, marketing, customer acquisition, operations, and financial management — all with AI as your co-pilot. Whether you’re starting a business or growing one, this course gives you the AI-powered workflows that larger companies have entire departments for.
Best for: Small business owners who wear every hat.
Start the Small Business course →
Life Skills
13. AI for New Parents
New parents are sleep-deprived, overwhelmed, and Googling everything at 3 AM. This course turns AI into a calm, evidence-based advisor for the first year of parenthood. Covers newborn basics, sleep, feeding, development milestones, health and safety, and self-care for parents. Every piece of advice cites pediatric guidelines.
Best for: New and expecting parents.
Start the New Parents course →
14. AI for Budgeting on Minimum Wage
Most financial advice assumes you have money to spare. This course doesn’t. It teaches budgeting, cost-cutting, emergency funds, debt escape, and income growth — all calibrated for people living on minimum wage or tight budgets. AI helps you find savings you didn’t know existed and build a plan that actually works with your income.
Best for: Anyone living paycheck to paycheck who wants a realistic financial plan.
15. AI for Moving to a New City
Moving to a new city is one of the most stressful life events — and also one of the most disorganized. This course uses AI to help with every step: choosing the right city, finding housing, managing logistics, handling finances, settling in, and building a social circle. Turns an overwhelming process into a structured plan.
Best for: Anyone planning a move to a new city, whether across the state or across the country.
What Makes These Courses Different
Every course on this list shares four things:
- AI is built into every lesson — you don’t just learn about a topic, you learn how to use AI as a co-pilot for that topic
- No signup required — open the course and start learning, no account needed
- Short and practical — 8 lessons, 1-2 hours total, with exercises you can apply immediately
- Certificate included — complete the course and get a verifiable credential
We have 175+ courses covering everything from data analysis to wedding planning. These 15 are just the starting point.