10 AI courses for small business owners: From free to premium

In today’s ever-changing technology landscape, small business owners must keep up with ‌trends and advances to stay competitive. This puts pressure on small business owners, who might not have prior experience with the technology, and AI training can:

• Improve business efficiency 
• Enhance customer service 
• Create a skill set around technology 
• Boosting productivity by automating some tasks 
• Keep you competitive in a tough market

We’ve compiled a list of the best AI courses for small business owners, and we’ll explore how to use this technology to gain a competitive edge:

1. University of Pennsylvania: AI For Business Specialization
2. Google: Google AI for Anyone
3. IBM: AI Foundations for Everyone Specialization
4. UC Davis: Computational Social Science Specialization
5. UC Davis: Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Ethics
6. Udemy: AI for Small Business
7. Udacity: AI for Business Leaders
8. IBM: Foundations of AI
9. Harvard University: Computer Science for Artificial Intelligence
10. Google: Fundamentals of Google AI for Web-Based Machine Learning

1. University of Pennsylvania: AI For Business Specialization

Best for: Project managers, technology-oriented professionals, or data scientists with beginner-level AI knowledge

Price: Free, $79/month for certificates 

Estimated time commitment: 10 hours per week for one month

This artificial intelligence for business course touches on the fundamental building blocks of AI—strategy, applications in people management, and marketing. 

You’ll learn about the risks of using AI, how to use it ethically, and how to best leverage AI for your small business. This program utilizes industry leaders to discuss how AI has changed business operations to maximize profits and minimize efforts. By the end of the course, you’ll understand the relationship between AI, data analytics, and machine learning, and you’ll know how to leverage this ground-breaking technology to manage your business. 

Bottom line: This course covers beginner-level topics and provides LinkedIn certificates. However, some of its topics can be tricky if no prior tech-industry experience.

2. Google: Google AI for Anyone

Best for: General audience without a deep technical background

Price: Free to audit, $299 certificate available 

Estimated time commitment: 8-12 hours

Google’s AI course provides a general introduction to artificial intelligence, where you’ll learn AI principles, how to implement AI to improve your small business website, and what programming AI looks like. 

You can choose the free option for this course, but if you want the certificate for completion and graded assessments, you’ll need to pay a$299 fee. You’ll spend at least 8 hours working through the self-paced content, focusing on terminology, what AI is, and AI ethics.

While this program isn’t specific to small business owners, it does benefit them by providing a starting point for learning more about AI and how it can help your business.

Bottom line: This course takes minimal time to complete, is self-paced, and requires no prior AI knowledge. However, the certificate comes with a $299 fee and includes exams and assignments.

3. IBM: AI Foundations for Everyone Specialization

Best for: People who have limited AI experience. 

Price: Free to audit, $99 fee for certificate

Estimated time commitment: 10 hours per week for one month

For good reason, IBM has one of the best AI courses for small business owners. This course provides a solid foundation for the use of AI in business and teaches about the topic without going too far with in-depth technical skills. 

This four-course series provides a deep dive into AI fundamentals, a generative AI and engineering basics section, and a lesson on AI chatbots. It offers hands-on interactions with several AI environments and applications to make you and your team comfortable with the course material. Thanks to its relatively short time commitment, this program can join the list of online business courses that fit everyone’s schedule. 

Bottom line: This course covers real-world examples and use cases while being cost-effective. It requires limited technical knowledge and is primarily focused on IBM technologies.

4. UC Davis: Computational Social Science Specialization

Best for: Professionals with a strong interest in AI technology about human sciences. 

Price: Free to audit; certification costs vary

Estimated time commitment: 10 hours per week for two months 

This artificial intelligence for business course helps boost your experience with human behavior. You’ll learn how digital technology impacts social movements and buyer behavior, plus how social networks can create dynamic patterns. 

While you don’t need any prior AI or digital technology experience to learn from the program, you’ll get more from the course if you have a deep interest in learning how current and future technologies can impact businesses of all sizes and their respective consumer behavior. 

Bottom line: This course is cost-effective and requires no previous AI experience. The program is hyper-specific to digital technology about human behavior.

5. UC Davis: Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Ethics

Best for: Individuals with a strong foundation in computer science and a heavy interest in AI technologies.

Price: Free to audit; certificate cost varies

Estimated time commitment: 12 hours

If your small business has a team of techies, this program is for them. UC Davis’ Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Ethics course takes a deep dive into big data and digital footprints and will teach about big data limitations and the history of artificial intelligence.

This course requires substantial AI knowledge. However, this course can help small business owners with existing AI fundamentals enhance their understanding of social science concerning AI. 

Bottom line: This course is cost-effective with hands-on experience and class discussions, but you’ll want to have foundational AI knowledge to get the most from the course.

6. Udemy: AI for Small Business

Best for: Small business owners with no artificial intelligence knowledge.

Price: $19.99

Estimated time commitment: 2 hours

It’s no surprise that Udemy’s AI for Small Business course is listed as one of the best AI courses for small businesses. This course covers the basics, like understanding the different types of AI software available, how to train AI software, and how to use AI for time management. 

This course contains 2 hours of on-demand videos, which you can learn at your own pace, as well as 24 downloadable resources. 

Bottom line: This course works well for business owners with no AI knowledge and is inexpensive, but note that it only discusses intro-level concepts—you’ll need to purchase further classes for in-depth training.

7. Udacity: AI for Business Leaders

Best for: Business leaders with basic descriptive statistics knowledge.

Price: $250

Estimated time commitment: 1 month

Udacity’s AI for Business Leaders course is a slightly elevated AI business course, which is perfect for small business owners who have already tested the waters of AI and have some fundamental knowledge. This course uses real-world examples and projects to teach how machine learning systems work in business. While not specifically an online bookkeeping course, it does touch on AI fundamentals for bookkeeping, which is key for business leaders.  

This course offers a final project in which students have to decide which AI use cases might be best for a situation, making it relevant for small business owners. 

Bottom line: You’ll get real-world scenarios to help with your learning, as well as topics and scenarios that are relevant to business leaders. However, it is a longer time commitment and more expensive than other options.

8. IBM: Foundations of AI

Best for: Individuals with limited AI knowledge who want to learn basic concepts. 

Price: $267.30 

Estimated time commitment: 3-6 hours per week for four months

IBM’s Foundations of AI business course provides users with a slightly more in-depth overview of artificial intelligence than other intro courses, though having any prior programming knowledge isn’t necessary 

The course will introduce you to AI basics and how to apply them, Watson AI services, and how AI-powered chatbot technology works, among other concepts. 

With hands-on labs and real-world examples, you’ll get practical experience working with AI tools to illustrate fundamental concepts. And while this course isn’t only for small business owners, you will still gain valuable knowledge to apply to your business. 

Bottom line: This course provides hands-on experience with fundamental training, but also is self-paced. Yet, it’s one of the more expensive courses and takes longer than others to complete.

9. Harvard University: Computer Science for Artificial Intelligence

Best for: Those who have a strong computer science background and are passionate about AI.

Price: $466.20

Estimated time commitment: 7-22 hours per week for five months

Unlike the other AI courses listed above, Harvard University’s course is not for beginners. This in-depth course requires a solid understanding of data structures, programming, and AI algorithms. 

This program, by nature, is designed for students pursuing an advanced degree. While small business owners can benefit from this program, we only recommend it if you have an intense background in AI. However, small business owners who pursue this program can benefit by:

• Staying on top of cutting-edge AI trends
• Inspiring AI innovation within the company
• Networking with top-tier artificial intelligence graduates

Bottom line: This course is a great networking and partnership opportunity that provides new ways to use AI. However, it is a costly program fee and has a focus on academic research.

10. Google: Fundamentals of Google AI for Web-Based Machine Learning

Best for: Individuals with a basic understanding of programming and web development.

Price: $538.20

Estimated time commitment: 3-4 hours per week for three months

Rounding out the list of best AI courses for small business owners is Google’s Fundamentals of Google AI for Web-Based Machine Learning course. At over $500, this program pairs the Google AI for Anyone course described above with the Google AI for JavaScript Developers With TensorFlow.js to deliver a comprehensive AI learning experience. 

While the front half of this program is certainly important information for all small business owners to learn about—AI is the future, after all—not everyone will benefit from the second half, which discusses more complex ideas like how to create Machine Learning models. If AI is new to you, starting with the Google AI for Anyone course might be worth it. 

Bottom line: The pros include a comprehensive program for those needing a flexible learning schedule and a more comprehensive program. However, you’ll want to balance the high cost and long course time.

Run your business with confidence

Whether you’re an AI novice learning how to implement AI in business or leading the culture change with business AI strategies, knowing the best AI courses for small business owners benefits you and your team. 

Knowing how to leverage AI is becoming a vital part of the big picture for future business success, including utilizing AI-powered financial assistants like Intuit Assist.

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