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This exam has been retired. Exam AI-900: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals (Exam AI-900: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals) is no longer available to take. It was retired on 2026-06-30. The replacement is Exam AI-901: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals, which earns the same Azure AI Fundamentals certification but expects Python and familiarity with REST APIs and SDKs. We have left the material below in place because it is still useful for understanding what the exam covered and how the successor differs, but do not book it — you cannot.
Quick answer
AI-900 can no longer be booked: Microsoft retired it on 30 June 2026, and the Azure AI Fundamentals certification now requires exam AI-901 instead. AI-901 is not AI-900 under a new number — Microsoft's outline expects basic Python and puts 55–60% of the exam on building small apps and agents in Microsoft Foundry — so the two-week, no-code plan below describes the retired AI-900 and covers only AI-901's concepts half. If you are preparing now, work from Microsoft's AI-901 study guide and its free practice assessment; the exam fee is still your only unavoidable cost.
AI-102 is retired. The replacement is Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate (AI-103).
The table below compares 4 certifications on provider, level, realistic time, coding needed and best for.
| Certification | Provider | Level | Realistic time | Coding needed | Best for | Enrol |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azure AI Fundamentals (now exam AI-901) | Microsoft | Foundational | ~2 weeks at an hour a day for the concepts, plus Foundry build time | Basic Python | The exam that replaced AI-900 | |
| Microsoft Learn AI-901 study guide and practice assessment | Microsoft | Foundational | Included in the two weeks | Basic Python | The free official prep — start here | |
| Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate (AI-103) | Microsoft | Intermediate (associate) | ~1–2 months of prep | Yes (Python) | The next rung for developers (replaced the retired AI-102) | Microsoft → |
| AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) | AWS | Foundational | ~4–6 weeks of prep | No | The AWS-side equivalent | AWS → |
How hard was AI-900 really?
It was the easy end of proctored exams, and that was precisely its appeal — a verified, closed-book credential without a technical prerequisite, which is why it earned its place on our list of the easiest certifications employers respect. No code, no maths beyond concepts, and question styles built for recognition rather than recall traps. Its successor, AI-901, is harder in one specific way: Microsoft now asks candidates to know Python syntax and to be familiar with REST APIs, SDKs and CLIs.
The honest caution runs the other way: the exam's reputation for ease makes people skip preparation entirely, and the questions that fail them are service-mapping ones — which Azure service fits which scenario. Concepts you can reason through; service names you have to have seen. Two weeks of light structure removes that risk almost completely.
What's actually on the exam?
Work from Microsoft's official skills outline, which defines the domains and their weightings. The current exam, AI-901, has two: identifying AI concepts and capabilities (40–45%) — responsible AI, how generative models work, and which workload fits text analysis, speech, vision or information extraction — and implementing AI solutions with Microsoft Foundry (55–60%): prompts, a lightweight chat client built with the Foundry SDK, a single agent, and small text, speech, vision and extraction apps. The retired AI-900, which the plan below follows, covered AI workloads and responsible-AI considerations; fundamental machine-learning principles; computer vision workloads on Azure; natural language processing workloads; and generative AI workloads and Azure's tooling for them.
AI-900's question formats were multiple choice and variants — drag-to-match, hot area and similar interactive types — and nothing required writing or reading code; several questions hinged on matching a scenario to the right Azure service. AI-901's Foundry domain is about building, so expect to read code.
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Try the AI Certification Picker →Could you really pass AI-900 in two weeks?
For AI-900 it was realistic at roughly an hour a day, if you followed a plan rather than wandering the documentation. This is the calendar that worked for it; for AI-901 it covers the concepts domain only, and the Foundry half needs hands-on build time on top:
- Days 1–3: AI workloads and responsible-AI concepts on the Microsoft Learn path. Slow reading beats re-reading — take rough notes on each service name you meet.
- Days 4–6: machine-learning fundamentals — training versus inference, classification versus regression versus clustering, and where Azure Machine Learning fits.
- Days 7–9: computer vision and natural language processing modules, with special attention to which named Azure service handles which job.
- Days 10–11: generative AI content — models, prompts and Azure's generative tooling — which is newer material and heavily represented in current outlines.
- Days 12–13: practice assessments. Score them honestly, re-study only the domains you missed, and repeat until comfortably clear of the passing threshold.
- Day 14: exam. Book the slot on day one so the deadline does the motivating.
Which resources should you use?
The free official stack covered everything for AI-900: its Microsoft Learn learning path was the syllabus in tutorial form, and the official practice assessment told you when you were ready. For AI-901, start from the study guide on its exam page; Microsoft's free practice assessment now sits on AI Skills Navigator. Most people need nothing else — a paid video course adds convenience, not coverage, at this level. If you prefer video pacing, one course is plenty; buying three is procrastination with receipts. The free-certifications roundup covers what else the Microsoft Learn ecosystem gives away.
How do you register for AI-901, and what does it cost?
Register through Microsoft's certification portal; the exam runs online-proctored from home or at a test centre. The fee is region-dependent, and students can often sit it at a reduced rate. Employers running Microsoft training events sometimes distribute discount vouchers — worth one email to your L&D team before paying personally.
The table below shows the fee and format of AI-901, as Microsoft publishes them. Every other exam we track is compared on our AI certification exams page.
| Credential | Vendor | Level | Fee | Exam format | Enrol |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-901) | Microsoft | Foundational | $99 USD (varies by country/region) | 45 minutes | Microsoft → |
For an online-proctored sitting: quiet room, cleared desk, webcam sweep, government ID, and no phone within reach. Technical check-in takes longer than people expect — start thirty minutes early.
Who should take Azure AI Fundamentals now — and who should skip it?
AI-900 suited anyone near a Microsoft-stack organisation who wanted a verified credential without code: business roles, ops, project managers, support and admin staff. Its successor does not fill that slot, because AI-901 expects Python — so if the no-coding path is your lane, start there instead. Azure AI Fundamentals is still the natural exam upgrade for people who finished a course certificate, can write a little Python and want something proctored — the reasoning our fastest certifications guide walks through.
Skip it if you are a working developer heading for the associate tier — now AI-103, which replaced the retired AI-102. Microsoft sets no prerequisite, and the fundamentals exam adds little you will not cover in associate prep. Our AI-900 vs AI-102 comparison works through why that call survived the retirement. And if your employer runs on AWS, sit the AWS equivalent instead — the trade-offs live in our AIF-C01 vs AI-900 comparison.
What comes after you pass?
Fundamentals certifications do not expire, so there is no renewal treadmill. The badge lands on your CV and LinkedIn the same day, and the vocabulary starts paying off immediately in meetings where Azure AI services get discussed.
The next step depends on your lane. Developers used to continue to AI-102 — that exam has been retired and replaced, and our guide to what replaced AI-102 covers where that path now goes. Non-developers usually get more value from applied skills — prompt work, workflow building — than from stacking a second fundamentals badge. The staged view lives in our AI certification roadmap.
The gap AI-900 left was deliberate. It was a vocabulary exam: it certified that you knew what a document-processing service or a knowledge mining pipeline is, and it asked you to build neither. AI-901 closes part of that gap with small Foundry builds, but a fundamentals badge is still the wrong scope for a CV on its own, which is why the honest next move for most people is a hands-on track rather than a second badge. If you write Python, Associate AI Engineer for Developers is about 29 hours on the OpenAI API, LangChain, embeddings, vector search and Model Context Protocol — building the applications AI-900 only named. It is not Azure-specific and it carries no Microsoft badge; take it for what you can then show working, and take the annual subscription rather than the monthly one, which costs noticeably less per month.
Associate AI Engineer for Developers →Where most AI-900 advice gets it wrong
Two failure modes dominate. The first is the 'easiest cert ever' framing — accurate enough to be dangerous, because it produces candidates who walk in cold and meet a wall of service names they have never read. Easy with preparation is not the same as passable without it.
The second is treating AI-900 as trivia to be dumped and forgotten. Brain-dump sites violate the exam agreement and, worse, defeat the point: the exam's actual value is that its vocabulary — workloads, services, responsible-AI language — is the vocabulary of every Azure AI conversation you will sit in for years. Learn it properly once and the certificate is the smallest part of what you keep.
Verdict
AI-900 was the best effort-to-credential ratio in the AI certification market, but Microsoft retired it on 30 June 2026 and the Azure AI Fundamentals badge now comes through AI-901, which expects basic Python and hands-on Foundry work. Take AI-901 if you are in or near a Microsoft-stack workplace, can write a little Python and want a proctored badge from an issuer every recruiter recognises: use the plan above for its concepts half, add build time for the rest, and book the exam early so the date pulls you through. Skip it if you are a developer going straight to the associate tier, now AI-103, or if you need a credential with no code at all. Whichever you choose, the honest next move after a fundamentals badge is a hands-on track: if you write Python, Associate AI Engineer for Developers. If you are still choosing your first credential, the 2026 rankings give the full field, and the Picker matches one to your situation in two minutes.
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Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to prepare for Azure AI Fundamentals now?
For AI-900 it was about two weeks at an hour a day on Microsoft Learn's free learning path — but Microsoft retired AI-900 on 30 June 2026, and the Azure AI Fundamentals certification now requires exam AI-901. Microsoft publishes no study time for AI-901 and we do not estimate one: the two-week plan on this page covers its concepts domain (40–45% of the exam), not the Foundry build domain (55–60%).
Take the concepts in the order that worked for AI-900 — responsible AI and workloads, then how generative models work, then text, speech, vision and information extraction — and add hands-on time in Microsoft Foundry for the rest: deploying a model, a small chat client with the Foundry SDK, a single agent. Use Microsoft's free practice assessment on AI Skills Navigator as the readiness test, and book the exam slot early so the deadline does the motivating.
Does Azure AI Fundamentals require coding now?
AI-900 did not — it was entirely conceptual, with no code written or read — but Microsoft retired it on 30 June 2026, and its replacement does. The Azure AI Fundamentals certification now requires exam AI-901, which asks for knowledge of Python coding syntax and familiarity with REST APIs, SDKs and CLIs, and 55–60% of whose outline is implementing solutions in Microsoft Foundry: a chat client built with the Foundry SDK, a single agent, and small text, speech, vision and extraction apps.
So the certification is no longer the no-code proctored pick it was. What has not changed is that the concepts half still turns on names: several questions ask you to match a scenario to the right Azure capability, and names are the part you cannot reason your way through under pressure. If you need a credential with no code at all, start from our no-coding list rather than Azure AI Fundamentals.
What is the passing score for Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-901)?
700 or greater, on a scaled score — that is the threshold Microsoft states in the study guide for AI-901, the exam that replaced AI-900 on 30 June 2026. It is not a raw percentage of questions right, and Microsoft revises the exam outline periodically, so check the threshold alongside the current skills outline when you start rather than relying on a number from a forum post.
Microsoft's official practice assessment reports against the same scale, which makes it the honest readiness test. Book the real exam once you clear the threshold consistently across several attempts, not after a single good run — one lucky pass usually means you have started recognising the practice questions rather than knowing the material. If a domain keeps dragging the score down, re-study that domain specifically instead of retaking the whole assessment; the retake mostly re-tests what you already know.
Does the AI-900 certification expire?
No. Microsoft's fundamentals-level certifications, Azure AI Fundamentals among them, carry no expiry — once you pass, it stays on your transcript with no renewal, no fee and no maintenance, and that holds for anyone who earned it through AI-900 before the exam retired on 30 June 2026. That is unlike Microsoft's associate-, expert- and specialty-level credentials, which expire annually and renew through a free online assessment on Microsoft Learn, and unlike AWS certifications, which carry a recertification cycle of their own.
It is a genuine part of the value, and it is worth weighing when you compare foundational exams across clouds. A credential that never expires costs you the exam fee once, so the honest question is only whether the preparation teaches you something useful — and here it does, because the vocabulary the exam tests is the vocabulary of every Azure AI conversation you will sit in afterwards. The badge lands on your CV and LinkedIn the same day you pass.
Is Azure AI Fundamentals still worth it?
AI-900 itself can no longer be taken: Microsoft retired it on 30 June 2026. The certification it led to, Azure AI Fundamentals, is still worth it for people in or near a Microsoft-stack workplace who can write a little Python — Microsoft's study guide and practice assessment are free, the credential never expires, and it is proctored, which is what separates it from a course certificate: a recruiter reads it as verified rather than self-reported.
Three groups should skip it. Anyone on a no-code path, because its exam is now AI-901, which expects Python and puts most of its weight on building in Microsoft Foundry. Working developers, who get more from putting the same hours into the associate tier — now AI-103, which replaced the retired AI-102 — since Microsoft sets no prerequisite. And anyone whose employer runs on AWS, who should sit the AWS equivalent instead: a foundational vendor credential is worth what your market pays for that vendor, and nothing else about it changes that.
Keeping this current. Course formats, prices, and certification exam fees change and vary by region. We review our guides regularly, and we always recommend confirming the specifics on the provider's official page before you enrol.