AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01)

In the past, if you wanted to get a dedicated AI certification from AWS, you’d have to study for the infamously hard AWS Machine Learning - Speciality certification. Thankfully, these days you can take the AWS Certified AI Practitioner certification to prove that you've got a strong understanding of AI concepts and AWS AI tools.

In this article, I'll cover frequently asked questions about the AIF-C01, so you can decide whether or not it's a fit for you, and be prepared for what to expect.

What is the AWS Certified AI Practitioner?

The AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) is a foundational certification that shows you have in-depth knowledge of AI, machine learning (ML), and generative AI concepts and use cases as it relates to AWS. 

Who is the AWS Certified AI Practitioner for?

The Certified AI Practitioner is perfect for anyone who’s dipping their toes into AWS’s various AI solutions. This could be IT managers or IT support professionals, or people in non-technical roles who want to understand these solutions, such as business analysts, product or project managers.

How hard is the AIF-C01?

Slightly difficult. While the exam is foundational, it doesn't mean you should underestimate it. The exam doesn’t cover topics deeply, but it does cover a lot of ground. By passing it, it demonstrates you have that broad knowledge of AI concepts and AWS services. 

Do I need hands-on experience to take the AIF-C01?

No. However, if you've had some exposure—say, up to six months—to these technologies, you'll fit into the core demographic this exam is aimed at. It doesn’t go into the weeds with coding or data engineering, so you don’t need to be an expert in these to pass.

What are the exam requirements for the AIF-C01?

Like with most AWS exams, there is none! Other than paying the actual exam cost, of course.

How much does the AIF-C01 cost to take?

The AIF-C01 certification exam is currently $100 USD and the price is subject to change and local currency conversion. Check out AWS's exam pricing for additional information.

What is the pass score of the AIF-C01?

To pass the exam, you need to achieve a score of at least 700 out of a possible 1000 points. It’s important to know that 700/1000 isn’t technically 70%. The passing score is calculated based on your ability to answer the questions and the difficulty of the questions. You don't need to pass each section of the AIF-C01, just the overall exam itself.

It’s also important to point out that points are never deducted. You should answer every question, even if you need to guess.

There are also 15 unscored questions that don't affect your score. AWS has these in all their exams to test out new questions for future exams. You won't know which ones are scored or unscored when taking the test.

Can I take the AIF-C01 multiple times?

Yes. However, you must wait 14 calendar days before you're eligible to retake the exam. The real limit is how many times you want to pay for it, since you must pay the full registration fee for every exam attempt.

What the exam covers

The exam is structured around five key domains: Fundamentals of AI and ML, Fundamentals of Generative AI, Applications of Foundation Models, Guidelines for Responsible AI, and Security, Compliance, and Governance for AI Solutions.

Side note: Pluralight has a dedicated AWS Certified AI Practitioner learning path you can take that covers all of these, created by the excellent Michael Cassidy, Noreen Hasan, and Chris Jackson. Follow their expert advice, and you'll be well primed to pass on your first try!

Now, let's break down the actual sections of the exam, how much each section is worth, and what you should focus on learning to cover each one.

1. Fundamentals of AI and ML

This section will make up approximately 20% of your exam. As the name suggests, it covers essential concepts like basic AI terms, concepts like neural networks, natural language processing, and the different learning methods such as supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning.

There are also questions such as how AI can be practically used, such as assisting with decision making and automating tasks—all those things that otherwise eat up valuable time. On the flip side, it also tests you to identify where AI and ML solutions aren’t fit for purpose.

Expect questions around the capabilities of AWS’s range of AI and ML solutions, like:

• SageMaker
• Amazon Transcribe
• Amazon Translate
• Amazon Comprehend
• Amazon Lex, and 
• Amazon Polly. 

2. Fundamentals of Generative AI

Next is Generative AI, a rapidly growing field, which makes up about a quarter of the exam’s scored content. For this part, you’ll need to be able to explain specific generative AI concepts. That includes things like prompt engineering, transformer-based models, and the lifecycle of a generative AI model, from pre-training all the way to deployment. 

Just like with the last section, expect questions about the advantages and disadvantages of generative AI, and about what solutions and features AWS offers for developing GenAI applications. Expect questions on:

• Amazon SageMaker Jumpstart
• Amazon Bedrock
• Amazon Partyrock, and 
• Amazon Q.

3. Applications of Foundation Models

Right now, this section makes up the largest portion of the exam at 28% of scored content. You definitely should learn about Foundational Models, or FMs, going in. FMs are pre-trained models that can be fine tuned for specific tasks, rather than other models that you might get out of the box and are only fit for general applications.

Knowing how to choose the right model and apply effective prompt engineering techniques will give you a significant advantage not just in passing this exam, but also in real-world scenarios beyond it.

Expect questions around the selection criteria you’d use to choose a pre-trained model such as cost, latency, and complexity, and services you might use.

4. Guidelines for Responsible AI

With great power comes great responsibility. Sound familiar? Like spider powers, AI is no different. This domain makes up a smaller fraction of the exam at 14%, but is still very important.

Expect questions around responsible AI such as bias detection, fairness, and the ethical implications of AI. Understanding these concepts helps make sure the AI solutions you’ll help make in the future are not only effective, but also fair and inclusive.

5. Security, Compliance, and Governance for AI Solutions.

The final domain is also worth about 14% of your score, and covers all the AWS solutions you can use to secure those future AI solutions. This covers:

• IAM roles, policies and permissions
• Encryption
• Amazon Macie
• AWS PrivateLink
• The AWS Shared Responsibility Model

As with all exams, be sure to check out the AWS exam guide when you're preparing to take it!

What sort of questions are in the exam?

The AWS Certified AI Practitioner has four different question types:

• Multiple choice, where there’s one correct response and three incorrect answers, called distractors, and
  
• Multiple response, where there’s two or more correct answers out of five response options, and you need to select all the correct responses to get credit for the question.
• Ordering, where you get a list of 3 to 5 responses to complete a specific task, and you need to select the right ones and place them in the correct order.
  
• Matching, where you get a list of responses to match to 3 to 7 prompts. 

Conclusion

And that's it! Remember, this exam exam is quite broad, and covers more than what is mentioned here. On the surface, it might already sound like a lot. But with the right preparation, you'll be sure to pass this exam on your first try.