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Your complete reference for the Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals certification — exam cost, format, question types, who should take it, prerequisites, and everything in between.
This is a 4-page guide — not just this page. Each section shows you exactly what the exam tests on each domain, so you know precisely what to prepare for.
AI-901 is Microsoft’s refreshed entry-level AI certification for Azure. Passing it earns you the Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals badge, a foundation credential that demonstrates you understand both the principles of AI and how to implement AI solutions on the Microsoft cloud platform.
The exam validates conceptual knowledge of AI responsibilities and the practical ability to build AI solutions using Microsoft Foundry, which is the unified Azure platform for deploying models, creating agents, and building AI-enabled applications. It covers generative AI, agentic AI, text and speech analysis, computer vision, and information extraction.
AI-901 replaces the retiring AI-900 (Azure AI Fundamentals), which retires on 30 June 2026. The two exams earn the same badge, but AI-901 is substantially redesigned around Microsoft Foundry rather than individual Azure AI services. If you are starting your preparation in 2026, AI-901 is the exam to target.
Unlike most Microsoft certifications, the Azure AI Fundamentals badge does not expire. There is no annual renewal requirement. Once you pass, the credential stays on your transcript permanently.
AI-901 sits at the Fundamentals level of Microsoft’s AI certification track. It earns the Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals credential and serves as a natural stepping stone toward Associate and Expert-level AI certifications.
No. AI-901 is not a formal prerequisite for AI-103 or any other Microsoft certification. You can sit AI-103 directly if you have the technical skills. AI-901 is useful as a confidence-builder and knowledge check, but it is never mandatory before taking a higher-level exam.
AI-901 is designed for people at the beginning of their AI career or anyone who works adjacent to AI solutions and wants a recognised credential to formalise their knowledge. There are no eligibility requirements to register. Anyone can sit the exam.
Junior developers and students who are starting to incorporate AI capabilities into applications and want a Microsoft-backed credential to signal their foundational readiness. AI-901 is explicitly designed for this audience and assumes some Python familiarity.
IT professionals and Azure administrators who want to extend their cloud skills into AI. AI-901 provides a structured introduction to how AI solutions are built on Azure without requiring deep ML expertise.
Analysts, product managers, and decision-makers involved in AI projects who need to understand what Azure AI can and cannot do, how responsible AI principles apply, and how to evaluate AI workloads for their organisation.
Microsoft does not enforce any formal prerequisites for AI-901. You can register and sit the exam without any prior certification. However, the exam assumes a certain level of background knowledge, going in without it will make preparation significantly harder:
AI-901 is a Fundamentals-level exam, but the Foundry-centric redesign means preparation looks different from older AI-900 study guides. Candidates who pass consistently combine three things: knowing exactly what the exam tests, hands-on time in the Foundry portal, and timed practice under exam conditions.
Before studying anything, understand what the exam actually tests and how. AI-901 has two domains with very different characters — Domain 1 is concept and principle-based, Domain 2 is implementation-focused in the Foundry portal.
Domain 2 carries 55–60% of the exam weight, but both domains are independently important. You cannot afford to be weak in either. Knowing the weighting upfront simply helps you plan your time more deliberately rather than spreading effort evenly across everything.
Our domain pages map every sub-topic to the exact type of question you’ll face, based on our analysis of the exam, so you know precisely what to focus on for each topic rather than covering everything in equal depth.
Domain 2 is not a reading exercise. It tests whether you recognise what you actually do in the Foundry portal. Reading about Foundry without touching it puts you at a real disadvantage.
Use the free Azure trial and spend time in the Foundry portal: deploy a model and interact with it in the playground, walk through the Foundry SDK quickstarts in Python, create a single-agent solution, and explore Azure Content Understanding for document and image extraction.
The exam also includes short Python snippets. You are not expected to write code, but you must be able to read a snippet and identify what it does or spot a misconfigured parameter. The SDK quickstarts give you exactly the pattern recognition you need.
Taking full-length timed practice tests is one of the most effective things you can do before exam day.
Practice tests do several things at once:
Reviewing every wrong answer with its explanation, not just noting the correct option, compounds the benefit significantly. AI-901 distractors are plausible; understanding why the correct answer is better than the second-best option is what separates passing from failing.
Aim for 85%+ on practice tests consistently before booking your exam date.
The Azure AI Fundamentals badge is one of the few Microsoft credentials that never expires. Unlike Associate and Expert certs that require annual renewal, you pass AI-901 once and it stays on your transcript permanently.
AI-901 establishes the conceptual and Foundry foundation that maps directly onto the AI-103 Azure AI Engineer Associate exam. Candidates who have done AI-901 consistently report that the transition to AI-103 study is significantly smoother.
AI-901 was redesigned in April 2026 to reflect how AI is actually built today, through unified platforms like Microsoft Foundry, using agents, multimodal models, and content extraction at scale. The skills it tests are directly applicable to real AI projects.
For candidates entering the job market or transitioning into AI-adjacent roles, a vendor-backed Microsoft AI credential provides a credible, recognisable signal of foundational competency that is increasingly listed as a preference in job postings across cloud, data, and software roles.
AI-901 launched in beta in April 2026 as a direct replacement for AI-900, which retires on 30 June 2026. Here is the current context you need to make an informed decision about whether to pursue it:
Across software development, data engineering, cloud architecture, and IT operations, job postings requiring AI familiarity have grown significantly year-over-year. AI-901 is entry-level, but it provides a structured, verifiable proof of that familiarity backed by Microsoft.
The entire Azure AI ecosystem is consolidating around Microsoft Foundry. AI-901’s Foundry-centric redesign means the skills you learn for the exam are directly applicable to building AI solutions in the real Azure environment — not skills relevant to a now-retired architecture.
AI-901 requires a few weeks of focused study, costs $99 USD in most regions, and produces a credential that never needs renewal. For the investment involved, it delivers a strong and durable return, especially for candidates at the start of an AI or cloud career.
AI-901 has a specific structure — fixed time limit, a defined score threshold, and a range of question formats. Knowing these before exam day means you can pace yourself correctly and walk in with no surprises.
AI-901 uses a range of interactive question formats. Knowing what to expect before exam day removes anxiety and saves time during the actual test.
A question is followed by four options labelled A–D. Exactly one answer is correct. Select the radio button next to your chosen answer. These are the most common question type on AI-901.
The question specifies how many answers to select (e.g., “Select two”). Each correct selection earns one point independently.
A set of statements about a technology or scenario is presented. For each statement, you select Yes (the statement is accurate) or No (the statement is inaccurate). Each row is scored independently.
| Statement | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Foundry can be used to deploy models and interact with them via a portal playground. | ||
| The Azure AI Fundamentals certification requires annual renewal. | ||
| Azure Content Understanding can extract information from video files. |
A list of items appears on the left side of the screen. An “Answer Area” with empty target boxes appears on the right. You drag each item from the left and drop it into the correct box on the right. Items may be used once, more than once, or not at all.
A sentence or short paragraph is presented with a dropdown menu. You select the option that correctly completes the sentence.
Ensuring that human reviewers oversee AI-generated decisions and remain responsible for the final output is an example of the Microsoft responsible AI principle of [see dropdown below].
A scenario is described, followed by a code block with blank slots. A list of values appears on the left. You drag the correct value into each blank slot in the code. Values may be used once, more than once, or not at all.
AI-900 tested conceptual knowledge of individual Azure AI services such as Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Machine Learning, and Azure Bot Service. AI-901 replaces AI-900 and is redesigned around Microsoft Foundry — the unified platform for building, deploying, and managing AI solutions on Azure. AI-901 tests your ability to deploy models, build lightweight AI applications using the Foundry SDK, create agents, and implement information extraction with Azure Content Understanding. Both exams earn the same Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals badge. AI-900 retires on 30 June 2026.
AI-901 is a Fundamentals-level exam and is considered beginner-friendly compared to Associate or Expert-level certifications. The exam does assume basic Python readability, some familiarity with cloud concepts, and hands-on time in the Foundry portal for the implementation domain. Candidates with no Azure or Python exposure at all will find preparation harder. Most candidates with some technical background can prepare in three to four weeks of focused study.
No. The Azure AI Fundamentals badge does not expire. Fundamentals-level Microsoft certifications are permanent — no annual renewal assessment is required. This is different from Associate and Expert certifications, which require a free annual renewal via Microsoft Learn.
You need basic Python readability. The exam presents short Python code snippets using the Foundry SDK and expects you to interpret them — you are not asked to write code from scratch. If you have no Python experience, spending a few hours on Python basics (variables, function calls, basic syntax) before starting AI-901 preparation is recommended.
Microsoft Foundry (also called Azure AI Foundry) is Microsoft’s unified platform for building, deploying, and managing AI solutions on Azure. It consolidates model deployment, agent creation, multimodal AI capabilities, and Azure Content Understanding into a single portal and SDK. AI-901 was redesigned around Foundry because it is the primary platform for building Azure AI solutions in 2026. The Implement AI solutions by using Microsoft Foundry domain accounts for 55–60% of the exam.
There are no enforced prerequisites. Anyone can register and sit AI-901 without any prior Microsoft certification. Microsoft recommends familiarity with Python syntax, core cloud concepts (storage, compute, authentication), and basic Azure portal navigation. AZ-900 is helpful background but is never mandatory.
If you are starting preparation in 2026, take AI-901. It earns the same badge as AI-900, and AI-900 retires on 30 June 2026, after which AI-901 will be the only route to the Azure AI Fundamentals credential. If you are already close to completing AI-900 preparation before the retirement date, finishing AI-900 is a perfectly valid choice — the badge is identical.
Yes — particularly for candidates at the start of an AI or cloud career, or anyone in a technical role adjacent to AI projects. AI-901 provides a structured, Foundry-aligned foundation that is directly applicable to real Azure AI development in 2026. The credential never expires, costs a few hundred dollars in most regions, and serves as a clear signal of AI readiness to employers. It also provides a solid foundation for advancing to AI-103 (Azure AI Engineer Associate).
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