Free AI Engineering Courses: Build Apps with LLMs
4 free courses and videos, grouped by the level each provider gives, with the prerequisites and certificates their pages state.
What is AI engineering?
AI engineering means building software that uses AI models - for example a support chatbot that answers from your documents, or an app that summarises reports. Instead of training a model, you call an existing one through its API (an interface your code talks to) and connect it to your data and tools.
Common techniques covered here: retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), where relevant documents are found and added to the prompt; tool use, where the model can call functions; and deploying and testing AI features.
Who these courses are for
People who can code, or are learning to. Each card lists the programming the course expects.
Beginner courses (3)
Generative AI for Beginners
Microsoft
21 lessons on building generative AI applications, each either a concept lesson or a build lesson with Python and TypeScript code.
GenAI Essentials
freeCodeCamp.org / Andrew Brown
A video course on prompting, deploying and tuning models, retrieval-augmented generation and agents.
Claude Platform 101
Anthropic Academy
Building on the Claude Platform from the ground up, for people who have made a few API calls or only used Claude in a chat window. 13 lessons and a quiz.
Intermediate courses (1)
View and sign-up counts are the providers’ own figures, read 18 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is AI engineering?+
AI engineering is building applications that use AI models, usually by calling a model through an API and connecting it to data and tools, rather than training a model from scratch.
Are there free generative AI courses for developers?+
Yes. Microsoft's Generative AI for Beginners has 21 lessons with Python and TypeScript code, Anthropic Academy's Claude Platform 101 and Building with the Claude API teach the Claude API, and freeCodeCamp's GenAI Essentials is a free 23-hour video course.
Do I need to pay to use an AI API while learning?+
The courses are free, but calling a model's API is usually billed per use. Anthropic's Building with the Claude API, for example, lists access to an Anthropic API key among its prerequisites.