The Yard · Free AI Resources

Learn AI.
Free.

Every resource on this page is completely free to access. No credit card. No subscription. No paywall. Curated by The Yard — from Anthropic Academy to MIT OpenCourseWare — so you know exactly where to start and where to go next.

56% wage premium for workers with AI skills · World Economic Forum, 2026

50+
Free courses listed
0
Credit cards needed
6
Major AI companies
CCA-F
Certification pathway
◈ From the source

Straight from the
companies building AI.

The organisations building the tools are giving away the training for free. No third-party platforms, no middlemen — go directly to Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, Meta, NVIDIA and AWS to learn the tools from the people who built them.

Fellowship required
ANTHROPIC · anthropic.skilljar.com
Anthropic Academy
13+ free courses built by the team that created Claude. AI Fluency, Claude 101, Building with the Claude API, MCP, Agent Skills, Claude Code, and more. Every course awards a certificate. No credit card. Email only. The official starting point for every Yard Fellow.
Free certificates Fellowship required 13+ courses
Start learning →
GOOGLE · multiple platforms
Google AI Training — Full Suite
Three free tracks from Google: Cloud Skills Boost (Intro to Generative AI, LLMs, Responsible AI — free), AI Research Foundations (advanced technical curriculum, hands-on with generative AI models), and Grow with Google (AI tools and digital skills in 30+ languages).
Free Beginner–Advanced Multiple tracks
Cloud Skills Boost → Grow with Google →
MICROSOFT · learn.microsoft.com
Microsoft Learn — AI & Copilot
Free self-paced modules covering Microsoft Copilot, Azure AI Foundry, prompt engineering, and AI fluency. The AI Skills Challenge issues a completely free certificate on completion. Recognised by employers across Africa and globally. Start with: Microsoft AI Fluency → Copilot Studio → Azure AI basics.
Free certificate Beginner–Intermediate Self-paced
Start learning →
META · coursera.org
Meta AI Courses on Coursera
Meta offers machine learning and deep learning courses through Coursera — built on the same research that powers their AI systems. Audit all courses for free to access every lecture and reading. Best for learners who want to understand the models behind the tools, not just use them.
Free audit Intermediate ML + Deep Learning
Browse courses →
NVIDIA · courses.nvidia.com
NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute
Free self-paced courses from the company that builds the GPUs powering AI. Covers AI fundamentals, deep learning, data science, and generative AI. The Code & Build Lab at The Yard runs on NVIDIA GPU rigs — these courses teach you exactly how to use the hardware you'll have access to.
Free courses Beginner–Advanced GPU computing
Start learning →
AWS · aws.amazon.com/training
AWS AI & Machine Learning — Free Training
Free digital training from Amazon covering machine learning on AWS, generative AI on Bedrock, and responsible AI practices. Directly relevant to The Yard's infrastructure — Claude access at The Yard runs through AWS Bedrock. Learn the platform that powers the tools you'll be using every day.
Free Beginner–Intermediate Cloud AI
Start learning →
● Tier 1 — Start here

No experience
needed.

Start with these. Two are required for The Yard Fellowship application — complete them first, download your certificates, and you're already ahead of most applicants. The others build your foundation before you write a single line of code.

Required for fellowship
Anthropic Academy · anthropic.skilljar.com
AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations
Not about any specific tool. Builds a mental model for how AI works, what it can and can't do, and how to think about it strategically. The clearest on-ramp for non-technical learners — and the first thing every Yard Fellowship applicant must complete.
Required Free certificate ~1 hour Beginner
Start course →
Required for fellowship
Anthropic Academy · anthropic.skilljar.com
Claude 101
Core features, practical workflows, and best practices for using Claude in real work — not toy demos. Complete this after AI Fluency and you'll understand what Claude can and can't do before the Yard Fellowship even starts.
Required Free certificate ~1 hour Beginner
Start course →
University of Helsinki · elementsofai.com
Elements of AI
One of the most respected free AI courses globally — over 1 million completions. Covers both conceptual foundations and practical applications, with a strong emphasis on societal impact and ethical considerations. Available in multiple languages.
Free certificate ~30 hours Beginner
Start course →
Google · grow.google
Google AI Essentials
The most employer-recognised free beginner AI course. Covers AI fundamentals, prompt design, and practical use of AI tools in a work context. Google's brand recognition makes this certificate meaningful on a CV or LinkedIn profile.
Free badge ~10 hours Beginner
Start course →
DataCamp · datacamp.com
Introduction to AI for Work
Interactive and AI-native. Covers what AI is, how it works, and how to use it effectively — with hands-on exercises throughout. Best for analysts, marketers, operations and finance professionals who want to apply AI in their current role immediately.
Free ~2 hours Beginner
Start course →
Anthropic Academy · anthropic.skilljar.com
AI Capabilities and Limitations
How a generative model actually works — real capabilities and operational boundaries. Cuts through the hype and gives you an honest picture of what AI can and can't do. Essential before building anything serious with Claude.
Free certificate ~1 hour Beginner
Start course →
◆ Tier 2 — Build

Start making
things.

You understand what AI is. Now learn how to use it practically — prompt engineering, Microsoft AI tools, Kaggle datasets, IBM's business perspective, and Anthropic's applied courses. No coding required for most of these.

DeepLearning.AI · deeplearning.ai
Prompt Engineering for Developers
The fastest path to better Claude outputs. Covers principles of prompting, iterative prompt development, summarising, inferring, transforming, and expanding. One hour that makes every AI interaction immediately more effective.
Free ~1 hour Beginner–Intermediate
Start course →
Microsoft Learn · learn.microsoft.com
Microsoft AI Skills Challenge
Completely free with a certificate on completion. Covers Azure AI, Copilot fundamentals, and prompt engineering. Microsoft's brand recognition means this certificate is immediately useful in enterprise job applications across Africa and globally.
Free certificate ~5 hours Beginner
Start course →
Kaggle · kaggle.com/learn
Kaggle Learn — AI & Machine Learning
100% free, project-based, and practical. Multiple short courses covering Python, machine learning, deep learning, and data science. Kaggle is Google's data science platform — certificates are recognised by the global ML community.
Free certificates Self-paced Beginner–Intermediate
Start learning →
IBM SkillsBuild · skillsbuild.org
IBM AI Fundamentals
AI from a business perspective — less about using tools, more about understanding how AI impacts organisations. Best for NGO managers, programme directors, and business professionals who need to understand AI's strategic implications before deploying it.
Free certificate ~8 hours Beginner
Start course →
Anthropic Academy · anthropic.skilljar.com
Introduction to MCP
Model Context Protocol — how to connect Claude to external databases, APIs, and internal tools. The standard Anthropic is pushing for production AI systems. Understanding MCP is a core CCA-F exam requirement.
Free certificate ~2 hours Intermediate
Start course →
Anthropic Academy · anthropic.skilljar.com
Introduction to Agent Skills
How to build and configure agentic AI workflows — systems where Claude takes sequences of actions to complete complex tasks. The shift from prompting to building is here. This course starts it.
Free certificate ~2 hours Intermediate
Start course →
▲ Tier 3 — Specialise

Build for
production.

Developer track. You are building real Claude systems now — APIs, production deployments, multi-agent architectures. These courses map directly to the CCA-F exam domains and to the work Phase 1 fellows do in the Code & Build Lab.

Anthropic Academy · anthropic.skilljar.com
Building with the Claude API
The flagship developer course. API fundamentals through advanced agentic architectures and RAG pipelines. 8+ hours of the most comprehensive Claude development training available anywhere. Core CCA-F exam preparation.
Free certificate 8+ hours Intermediate
Start course →
Anthropic Academy · anthropic.skilljar.com
Claude Code 101
Agentic coding with Claude Code. The Explore-Plan-Code-Commit workflow. How Claude reads a codebase, proposes changes, and ships. Requires an API key — Yard fellows get access via the M-Pesa gateway from Day 1 of Phase 1.
Free certificate ~1 hour Advanced
Start course →
Anthropic Academy · anthropic.skilljar.com
Claude Code in Action
Claude Code applied to a real production codebase. The gap between toy demos and real software. Every Yard fellow is expected to complete this before the CCA-F exam — it covers the production deployment domain directly.
Free certificate ~3 hours Advanced
Start course →
Anthropic Academy · anthropic.skilljar.com
Introduction to Subagents
How to delegate tasks to isolated sub-agents to reduce context noise and improve reliability. The architecture behind complex multi-step AI systems. Essential for anyone building production agentic workflows.
Free certificate ~1 hour Advanced
Start course →
fast.ai · fast.ai
Practical Deep Learning for Coders
The best free deep learning course on earth — no fluff, project-first, covers the actual techniques used in production AI systems. Jeremy Howard's teaching style is legendary. If you want to understand how AI models are built, start here after Tier 2.
Free Self-paced Intermediate
Start course →
Hugging Face · huggingface.co/learn
Hugging Face NLP Course
Open-source AI models, transformers, and NLP. For ML engineers who want to go beyond APIs and understand the models underneath. Hugging Face is the GitHub of AI — this course is your passport to the open-source AI community.
Free Self-paced Intermediate
Start course →
■ Tier 4 — Go deep

University
level.

MIT

If you want to understand how AI actually works — not just how to use it — start here. These are the same courses that trained the engineers who built the tools you're using. MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Andrew Ng. Free to access. No degree required.

MIT · ocw.mit.edu · YouTube
Introduction to Deep Learning (6.S191)
MIT's flagship deep learning course. Neural network fundamentals, RNNs, computer vision, generative modelling, reinforcement learning, LLMs, and agentic AI. Refreshed every January — the 2026 edition adds expanded LLM coverage. Lectures on YouTube, labs in Google Colab.
No certificate ~40 hours Advanced
Start course →
MIT OpenCourseWare · ocw.mit.edu
Artificial Intelligence (6.034)
MIT's foundational AI course. Basic knowledge representation, problem solving, and learning methods. Develop intelligent systems by assembling solutions to concrete computational problems. Full lecture videos, problem sets, and exams — free.
No certificate ~40 hours Intermediate
Start course →
MIT OpenCourseWare · ocw.mit.edu
Introduction to Machine Learning
Principles, algorithms, and applications of machine learning from the point of view of modelling and prediction. Supervised and unsupervised learning, regression, classification, neural networks. Full MIT course materials free.
No certificate ~30 hours Intermediate
Start course →
MITx · edx.org
AI 101
Introduction to artificial intelligence designed for those with little to no background in the subject. Adapted from the MIT classroom for global learners. Free to audit on edX — a genuinely accessible entry point to MIT-quality AI education.
Free audit ~10 hours Beginner
Start course →
Harvard · edx.org
CS50's Introduction to AI with Python
The most rigorous free university AI course available. Covers search algorithms, knowledge representation, uncertainty, machine learning, neural networks, and NLP — all in Python. Harvard's brand + genuine depth makes this the gold standard of free AI education.
Free audit ~40 hours Intermediate
Start course →
Andrew Ng · Coursera
AI for Everyone
Strategic AI for non-engineers. What AI can and cannot do. How to build AI projects. How to work with an AI team. How AI impacts society. Andrew Ng is the most respected AI educator on earth — this course is his gift to the non-technical world.
Free audit ~6 hours Non-technical
Start course →
Stanford · YouTube
CS229: Machine Learning
Andrew Ng's flagship ML course at Stanford. The most mathematically rigorous free AI course on this list — supervised learning, unsupervised learning, deep learning, and ML best practices. Best for learners with linear algebra and statistics backgrounds.
No certificate ~40 hours Advanced
Watch on YouTube →
MITx · edx.org
Deploying AI for Strategic Impact
How to align AI technologies with business goals, infrastructure, and data strategy to create long-term ROI. For NGO directors, programme managers, and senior staff who need to understand what deploying AI in their organisation actually involves.
Free audit ~15 hours Professional
Start course →
MIT OpenCourseWare · ocw.mit.edu
Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science
How to use computation to understand real-world phenomena. Mathematical modelling, simulation, statistics, and data science using Python. The gateway to understanding how AI systems process and learn from real data.
No certificate ~30 hours Intermediate
Start course →
Recommended path

The Yard
learning path.

If you don't know where to start — follow this. It takes you from zero to CCA-F ready in roughly 6 months of part-time study, all free.

1
Start
AI Fluency + Claude 101 on Anthropic Academy. Download both certificates. Then Elements of AI for depth.
Weeks 1–3 · ~30hrs total
2
Build
Prompt Engineering for Developers + Microsoft AI Skills Challenge + Kaggle Learn. Make your first real AI project.
Weeks 4–8 · ~20hrs total
3
Apply
Join The Yard Fellowship waitlist. Complete the AI Challenge. Submit your application with both certificates.
Week 8 onwards
4
Go deep
Building with the Claude API + Harvard CS50 AI + MIT Deep Learning. CCA-F exam ready.
Phase 1 at The Yard · 12 weeks

Ready to apply
the fellowship?

Complete AI Fluency and Claude 101 first — they're required. Then join the waitlist and take the AI Challenge. 25 places. 5% acceptance. Africa-wide. Free for Cohort 1.

Join the fellowship waitlist → Take the AI Challenge →