Open AI Foundations · ~70 minutes · level: introduction
What it is. The base course. It walks through what these models are actually good at, how to give them enough context to be useful, and where they fall over. The reason it is first is that the next four all assume you have this vocabulary.
What you actually do. The page asks you to bring "a real work task to practice on" and you apply each idea to that task as you go, rather than watching abstract demos. Pick something you genuinely repeat at work before you start, because you will be using it for the next two courses as well.
What you need. A ChatGPT account. A free one is enough for this course.
Open Applied AI Foundations · ~80 minutes · level: intermediate
What it is. Where the first course ends at "I can get a good answer", this one ends at "I have a repeatable process". The course page describes it as choosing a workflow you perform regularly, breaking it into steps, identifying where AI helps, and building a practical plan for the whole process.
What you actually do. You take one recurring job, split it into its real steps, and mark which steps AI should touch and which stay human. That map is the deliverable, and it is genuinely useful outside the course.
What you need. A ChatGPT account, and the page recommends finishing AI Foundations first.
Open Agents and Workflows · ~90 minutes · level: intermediate
What it is. The step up from prompting to directing. Instead of asking for an answer, you hand over a multi-step job and supervise it: what to delegate, how to scope it, and how to check the work that comes back.
What you actually do. You run an agent through a real multi-step task and review its output, which is why this is the course that needs live agent access rather than just a chat window.
What you need. This is the one catch in the list. The course page lists "Access to agent capabilities" under what you'll need, and OpenAI's help centre says agent mode is available on Pro, Plus, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans. Free is not on that list, so a free account cannot complete the hands-on part.
Open AI Leadership · ~3 hours · level: intermediate
What it is. The longest one, and the only one aimed at the person deciding what gets built rather than building it. It covers choosing where AI is worth applying, rolling it out across a team, and the governance side that most people skip.
What you actually do. You work through how you would introduce AI to a real team or department, which makes this the most useful one to have on your profile if you are angling for a lead or manager role.
What you need. A ChatGPT account. The page recommends AI Foundations first.
Open Scope AI Solutions · ~45 minutes · level: intermediate
What it is. The shortest course and the most technical, which is why it sits last rather than first. It is about scoping an AI feature properly before you build it: what is actually feasible, what it will cost, and where the project will break.
What you actually do. You size up a build the way an engineer would, from requirements through to the parts that will not work.
What you need. The page says it is "designed for software developers and hands-on technical practitioners who can write and debug code and work with APIs, but are newer to building end-to-end AI applications". If that is not you, it is still worth watching, but expect the vocabulary to move fast.
Every course ends with an assessment. The rule is the same on all five pages: complete the course and pass the assessment with a score of at least 80%. Once both are done, Accredible emails you a link to view your digital badge, sent to the address you used to sign up for OpenAI Academy, or the email on your ChatGPT account if you registered with Sign-In with Chat.
These are OpenAI Academy course badges issued through Accredible. They are not a proctored OpenAI certification exam, and there is no invigilator or ID check. That is worth knowing so you describe them accurately, because "OpenAI Academy course badge, AI Leadership" is both honest and still impressive, while "OpenAI certified" is a claim the badge does not support.
What they genuinely prove is that you sat down, did the work, and passed a test on it. For most roles that is exactly the signal you want, and five of them in a weekend is a very good use of a weekend.