OpenAI is introducing its first formal certification offerings with two new courses: AI Foundations and ChatGPT Foundations for Teachers. Both are designed to translate the rapid adoption of AI — including more than 800 million people using ChatGPT each week — into practical skills that workers and educators can demonstrate to employers.

The move builds on OpenAI’s earlier vision for OpenAI Certifications and an OpenAI Jobs Platform, first outlined in a September 2025 economic opportunity initiative. Those plans emphasized using AI to expand access to high-value skills, with a target of certifying 10 million Americans by 2030.

OpenAI also highlights the wage gap between workers who already have AI skills and those who do not, citing research that suggests AI-skilled workers earn around 50% more than workers without those skills. The new courses are pitched as a way to help more people participate in those higher-value roles rather than being left behind as AI adoption accelerates.

The first course, AI Foundations, focuses on job-ready, practical AI skills that can be used across industries and roles. Rather than relying on standalone courseware, OpenAI is embedding the full learning experience directly in ChatGPT itself. Learners can:

Learners who complete AI Foundations will earn a certification verifying that they have job-ready AI skills. Additional courses and a hands-on project will allow them to progress toward a broader OpenAI Certification — a more comprehensive credential that aims to demonstrate AI proficiency in real-world settings, not just theoretical understanding, supporting people as they deepen their skills in current roles or pursue new career paths.

To start, AI Foundations will be offered through pilot programs with a group of large employers and public-sector partners, including Walmart, John Deere, Lowe’s, Boston Consulting Group, Hearst, Russell Reynolds Associates, Upwork, Elevance Health, Accenture, the Office of the Governor of Delaware, and Choose New Jersey. These pilots are meant to test what works, identify gaps, and refine the curriculum before expanding access more broadly.

OpenAI is also working with Coursera, ETS, and Credly by Pearson to ensure the courses meet standards for learning design, psychometric rigor, and real-world impact, and to make credentials portable across employers and platforms.

Alongside the workforce-oriented program, OpenAI is launching ChatGPT Foundations for Teachers, a course built specifically for K–12 educators. The company notes that three in five teachers already use an AI tool, often to save time, personalize lessons, or better support students — and that teachers are central to helping students and families learn to use AI tools effectively and responsibly.

The teacher-focused course aims to:

Initially, ChatGPT Foundations for Teachers will be available on Coursera, with plans to bring the experience directly into ChatGPT and ChatGPT for Teachers in early 2026, mirroring the hands-on learning environment of AI Foundations. Additional teacher-focused certifications are expected to follow.

The course builds on OpenAI’s earlier education efforts, including:

A core theme of the announcement is connecting learning, certification, and economic opportunity in a single journey. The certification courses are explicitly positioned as a foundation for the upcoming OpenAI Jobs Platform, which aims to link people who have verified AI skills with organizations looking to hire them.

OpenAI highlights several partnerships aligned with that goal:

This approach reflects a broader pattern in enterprise AI adoption: organizations are rapidly moving from experimentation to scaled use cases, and workers who can demonstrate concrete, verifiable AI proficiency are increasingly in demand.

Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping how people work, learn, and build careers. OpenAI positions its certification courses as a way to help people prepare for this shift by turning everyday AI use into practical, demonstrable skills.

AI can improve productivity, help people learn faster, and unlock new forms of work. Research cited by OpenAI indicates that workers with AI skills are already seeing higher earnings and more pathways into high-impact roles.

For workers, certifications offer a way to build on existing roles while adapting to AI-enhanced workflows and evolving expectations. For students, partnerships with universities such as Arizona State University and the California State University system create early pathways to develop AI skills and signal job-market readiness to employers.

For teachers, the focus is on equipping educators with the confidence and practical knowledge to help students learn how to use AI tools effectively, responsibly, and safely from the start.

Taken together, the certification programs frame AI not as a disruptive force to manage, but as a capability that — when paired with skills and credentials — can expand opportunity across education and work.

Q: What exactly is AI Foundations, and who is it for?
A: AI Foundations is a skills-based course delivered inside ChatGPT that teaches practical, cross-industry AI skills. Learners complete hands-on tasks, receive feedback, and earn a certification that verifies job-ready AI capabilities, with the option to continue toward a broader OpenAI Certification through additional courses and a project. It is aimed at workers across roles and sectors who want to use AI more effectively in their day-to-day jobs.

Q: How is ChatGPT Foundations for Teachers different from a general AI course?
A: ChatGPT Foundations for Teachers is tailored specifically to K–12 educators. It focuses on how ChatGPT works, how to customize it for classroom and administrative tasks, and how to help students and families use AI tools effectively and responsibly. The course reflects both the growing use of AI among teachers and OpenAI’s broader education efforts, including free access via ChatGPT for Teachers and partnerships with educator organizations.

Q: How do these certifications connect to real job opportunities?
A: The courses are part of a longer-term plan that includes an OpenAI Jobs Platform and partnerships with platforms like Indeed and Upwork. The goal is to ensure that certifications are not just badges, but meaningful signals to employers that a candidate can apply AI tools in real-world settings — whether in full-time roles or freelance, project-based work.

Q: When will access expand beyond pilot programs and Coursera?
A: For now, AI Foundations is available through pilots with selected employers and public-sector partners, while ChatGPT Foundations for Teachers is initially offered on Coursera. OpenAI plans to work with its partners over the coming months to refine both courses and then expand access more broadly, including bringing the teacher experience directly into ChatGPT and ChatGPT for Teachers in early 2026.

As AI tools move from novelty to everyday infrastructure at work and in classrooms, skills and credentials become a key bridge between technology and people’s livelihoods.

OpenAI’s first certification courses suggest several important shifts:

For workers, students, and educators, programs like AI Foundations and ChatGPT Foundations for Teachers offer a structured way to move from curiosity to competence — and to show that competence in a way employers can recognize.

As AI reshapes the economy, the long-term question is not just who has access to powerful tools, but who has access to the skills and credentials that unlock opportunities. These first certification courses represent an early attempt to answer that question at scale.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.