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AIS Certified Professional credential

CertifiedAI Consultant

The professional credential for AI consulting. Earned through graded client work and a live certification interview.

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Cohort 2 dates are not yet set. Join the waitlist to be notified. Outcomes disclosure

AI Automation Society AIS Certified
Certified
AI Consultant
CAIC
Earned by
Graded portfolio and a live certification interview
Result
Certified or not. No tiers.
Valid
24 months, with recertification
Verifiable
By anyone who checks
AI Automation Society
Length
10 weeks
Curriculum
7 pillars
Across 4 phases
Live class
Thursdays
12 PM ET, recorded
Cohort 2
Dates TBD
Cohort 1 filled 54 of 50 seats
About the program

Program overview

The Certified AI Consultant (CAIC) is a professional credential from AI Automation Society. You earn it by working one real business case through every phase of an AI consulting engagement, then defending that work in a live interview.

  • Earned, not attended
  • One business case, worked end to end
  • In the lineage of the CFA and the AWS Solutions Architect Professional
Two tracks, one program

Choose your track

The program serves two tracks with one curriculum and one certification. Choose yours and the outputs below are named for it.

Curriculum

Curriculum

Four phases and seven pillars, in the order of a real engagement with a client. One pillar a week, with a live class every Thursday.

Phase 01

Discover and Scope

Find the problem worth solving and turn it into work someone will pay for.

Pillar 1

Process Audit and AI Fit

Run the AI Opportunity Audit on a business and finish with a ranked list the owner trusts enough to act on.

What you'll learn
  • Reframe a client's stated request to uncover the problem underneath it
  • Map how the work actually flows today, including the parts nobody documents
  • Score each opportunity on the value it creates and how much AI can really do
  • Sort everything into one prioritized list: do it now, do it later, or leave it alone
Pillar 2

Engagement Design

Take one opportunity off the audit and turn it into a bounded, priced engagement with a line you can hold.

What you'll learn
  • Define the outcome the client is buying, stated in their numbers rather than your activities
  • Draw a scope line with a clear "done" test on everything inside it
  • Price the work against the value of the outcome instead of the hours it takes
  • Set the terms that govern payment and protect the scope when requests start creeping

Your outputA signed statement of work.

Phase 02

Architect and Build

The design decisions that separate a demo from a system that runs live.

Pillar 3

Context, Workflow and Reliability

The build pillar. What the model sees, where code decides and the model judges, and how real users will break it.

What you'll learn
  • Engineer the context a model needs, and diagnose the ways context degrades
  • Draw the code-versus-model line so the right component makes each decision
  • Map real-world scenarios and build in milestones instead of discovering gaps in production
  • Apply the reliability practices that make a build something a client can actually depend on
Pillar 4

AI Governance

Set the boundaries deliberately: what the system may do, touch, and act on, and who owns it when it's wrong.

What you'll learn
  • Decide what an AI system is permitted to do, touch, and act on
  • Set data handling boundaries appropriate to the client's risk and industry
  • Define escalation paths and ownership for when the system gets something wrong
  • Build those boundaries into the system as design requirements, not paperwork after the fact
Phase 03

Evaluate and Iterate

Prove the system works in measurable terms, and keep proving it after launch.

Pillar 5

AI Evals

Define what "working" means in measurable terms, then build the loop that catches drift before the client does.

What you'll learn
  • Define what "working" means for a specific build, in terms you can measure
  • Build evaluation methods across deterministic checks, model-graded review, and human review
  • Set up the feedback loop that catches drift before the client does
  • Use eval results to decide what to fix, what to accept, and when the work is genuinely done
Pillar 6

AI Economics: Cost and Impact

What a system costs to run, what it returns, and the business case that gets a finance-minded decision maker to yes.

What you'll learn
  • Model what a workflow costs to run against the cost of the work it replaces
  • Choose models and configurations against cost and performance tradeoffs
  • Measure and report the impact a deployed system actually produced
  • Build the business case that gets a finance-minded decision maker to yes
Phase 04

Deliver and Sustain

Deliver the system so the team adopts it, and keep it running.

Pillar 7

Adoption and Capability Building

Treat adoption as a skill: train the team, earn their trust, and track whether the system is actually used.

What you'll learn
  • Plan a delivery designed around adoption rather than bolted on at the end
  • Produce the training, documentation, and enablement materials a team needs to run the system
  • Handle the trust, change management, and workflow disruption that stall real rollouts
  • Track usage and report on whether the system is actually being used and holding up
Certification

Certification

Certification is earned through a graded portfolio and a live interview with the AIS team. Consultants who pass receive the following.

AIS Certified
Certified
AI Consultant
CAIC
Earned by
Graded portfolio and a live interview
Valid
24 months, with recertification
Verifiable
By anyone who checks
AI Automation Society
  • The Certified AI Consultant credentialVerifiable. One of the AIS Certified credentials.
  • A personal letter of recommendation from Nate HerkWritten, personal, and verifiable.
  • AIS as a verifiable referenceAIS takes the call from clients and hiring managers.
  • A public Certified Partner listingYour name and profile on the AIS website.
  • The AIS Alumni Brain TrustThe network of AIS Certified graduates. Quarterly masterminds.
Instructors

Instructors

Nate Herk

Nate Herk

Founder, AI Automation Society

Teaches every pillar and writes the letter of recommendation for every consultant who certifies. Founded a community of 450,000 people learning to use AI for real work.

  • Russ Henneberry

    Program lead.

  • Pat Blakely

    Curriculum lead.

  • Ed Abdullayev

    Tech lead.

  • Guest experts

    Subject matter experts on different areas in AI.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Still have a question?

Cohort 2 details go to the waitlist first.

Join the waitlist →
Will this get me hired or get me clients?
We do not guarantee employment or client results. Certified graduates leave with a graded portfolio, a written reference from Nate Herk, a public Certified Partner listing, and AIS as a verifiable reference.
Does everyone who joins get certified?
No. Certification requires passing the graded portfolio work and the interview. The credential is not granted for attendance.
Am I technical enough?
If you can already build with AI tools and want to do so professionally, you are in range. The credential is stack-agnostic.
What if I miss a live class?
Every live class is recorded and available the same day. The graded work has deadlines; attendance does not.

Join the Cohort 2 waitlist.

Dates are not yet set. You'll be notified when they are. If you have already decided, a $1,000 deposit reserves your seat.

Join the waitlist Reserve your seat with a $1,000 deposit
AIS Certified
Certified
AI Consultant
CAIC
Cohort 2
Dates TBD
Length
10 weeks
AI Automation Society