Automate Basics

Certification · AIE-100

AI Essentials

Start from nothing and finish genuinely capable

What these tools are, which one to open, what to type, and how to tell when it is lying to you. No experience assumed.

The certificate attests that you can use these tools on your own work and catch it when the output is wrong. You read every output before it goes anywhere.

Start AIE-100 free
Level
BeginnerNo experience assumed
Lessons
13Plus 2 live applications
Content
2h 30mRead at your own pace
Certificate
$49 onceLessons and exam are free

Covers Getting started · Prompting · Checking work · Safety

Who this is for

  • You have heard about ChatGPT for two years and still have not really used it
  • You have opened one, typed something, got a bland answer, and quietly closed the tab
  • You are not sure what Claude is, what a 'model' is, or whether any of it is safe to use at work

6 free short courses lead here. If you have finished any of them, you have met some of this already, and the rest builds on it rather than starting over.

What you'll be able to do

These are the competencies the assessment tests. Nothing else is claimed.

  • Explain in plain words what these tools do when they answer, and predict where they go wrong
  • Pick the right tool for a task from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, and know what the free versions give you
  • Write a prompt with all four working parts and get a usable draft in one or two tries
  • Check any AI answer in about a minute and catch the mistakes that matter
  • Keep confidential information safe, and know when a task should not go to an AI tool at all

What you receive

Pass the assessment and the certificate is yours for $49, once. It carries your name, the competencies above, and an ID anyone can check.

  • Verifiable by anyone, with no account and no login
  • A permanent public page for the credential ID
  • Yours as a PDF, to attach or to print
  • No renewal, no expiry, no annual fee
How verification works

Automate Basics

Certificate of Competency

AIE-100

This certifies that

Your name

has passed the final assessment of the AI Essentials certification.

The holder declares the course’s lessons and live applications complete; the assessment result above is machine-marked by the issuer.

Assessed competencies are published with this credential at automatebasics.com/verify

Credential ID

AIE-100-2026-·······

Verify at automatebasics.com/verify

The curriculum

Every module, every lesson and every duration, before you decide. The lessons, the live applications and the assessment are all free. Only the certificate is paid, and only once you have passed.

Modules
4
Lessons
13
Live applications
2
Total time
about 2h 30m

  1. Module 1: What these things actually are

    The names, one simple picture of how they work, what you get for free, and the four habits the rest of this site is built on.

    4 lessons · 16 min

    1. 1.1The one mental model you needYou can explain why a confident answer can still be wrong, and spot which questions the tool is likely to get wrong5 min
    2. 1.2ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot: who is whoYou can pick which of the four tools to open for a task, and say what should decide it at work3 min
    3. 1.3Free versus paid, honestlyYou can decide whether to pay for a tool using two weeks of your own notes, not a pricing page3 min
    4. 1.4The four habits everything here is built onYou can name the four habits, and point at the failure each one catches in a real draft5 min

  2. Module 2: Your first real session

    Open it, type something worth typing, and turn a bland first answer into something you would actually send.

    3 lessons · 23 min

    1. 2.1Opening it and typing the first thingYou can get a useful first answer out of a tool you have never opened, instead of the generic one that makes people give up9 min
    2. 2.2The four parts of a prompt that worksYou can write a prompt with all four parts and a failure line, and fix a generic answer by finding which part is missing10 min
    3. 2.3Iterate like an editor, not a gamblerYou can turn a draft that is nearly right into one you would send, in two or three targeted edits4 min

  3. Module 3: Not getting fooled

    Where these tools invent things, the one-minute check that catches it, and the tasks you should not give them at all.

    3 lessons · 22 min

    1. 3.1Why it makes things upYou can predict which requests are likely to come back with invented facts, before you send them5 min
    2. 3.2The sixty-second verification passYou can check an AI answer in about a minute, marking every claim as verified, unverified, or wrong10 min
    3. 3.3When not to use it at allYou can decide when a task should not go to an AI tool, and write your own rule for your work7 min

  4. Module 4: Using it safely at work

    What may never be pasted, what to do when your company has no policy, and when to say you used AI.

    3 lessons · 16 min

    1. 4.1What you must never pasteYou can get real help with a confidential problem without pasting anything confidential8 min
    2. 4.2Your company's rules, written and unwrittenYou can find out in writing whether you may use AI at work, and know your position until you have4 min
    3. 4.3When to say you used AIYou can decide whether a piece of work needs an AI disclosure, and write the one line that does it well4 min

Practical evidence pack

Briefs you complete against your own real work, each with a published rubric. The work stays yours; the course gives it a clear quality bar.

  1. Redo a real task from last week

    30 min

    Your prompt, the output, and 3-5 sentences comparing it to what you originally produced, including what it got wrong.

  2. Break an answer on purpose

    25 min

    The exchange, plus your verification notes marking each claim as verified, unverifiable, wrong, or missing.

The evidence you keep

  • A reusable prompt built and improved on a piece of your real work
  • A verification record that labels important claims verified, unverified or wrong
  • A personal safe-use rule for confidential and high-consequence tasks

Free assessment, paid certificate

$49 once

10 questions on the competencies above, free to sit. You need 8 to pass, every answer is explained whether you get it right or wrong, and retakes are unlimited. Once you have passed, the certificate — in your name, with a credential ID anyone can verify — is the part that costs, and the price above is the whole of it.

What is free and what is paid

Start AIE-100

The first lesson is 5 minutes and needs no account. A free account, with no card and nothing to cancel, then keeps your place.

  • Your place is kept: pick up on your phone where you left off on your laptop
  • Lessons you have finished stay finished, even if you clear your browser
  • Assessment results are recorded against you, permanently
Start AIE-100 free

Next in the path: AIW-200 AI at Work