The AI job boom is here. Are you ready to showcase your skills?
AI isn’t just changing jobs descriptions, it’s redefining how work gets done across every industry, role, and skill level. From marketing to manufacturing, AI is reshaping workflows, speeding up decisions, and opening entirely new career paths. And the impact is massive. According to the World Economic Forum The Future of Jobs Report 2025, advances in AI and tech could create 78 million new jobs by 2030. “We’re in the middle of a once‑in‑a‑generation shift in how work gets done,” says Elisa Graceffo, General Manager of Global Skilling at Microsoft. “For over 30 years, Microsoft Certifications have set the benchmark for skills validation. We’re evolving them as fast as roles are changing so you can prove your skills for the future of work.” To keep pace with this shift, we’re launching a new wave of Certifications designed for AI‑powered roles, from entry level to advanced, from developers and data pros to business professionals. These new Certifications reflect the major industry drivers shaping today’s workplace, including the rise of generative AI and autonomous agents and the emergence of integrated cloud and AI systems. They also highlight how business professionals are evolving into orchestrators of AI‑powered workflows and innovation. And because AI is ultimately a force that amplifies human capability, these Certifications can help ensure that your skills stay relevant, practical, and aligned with the real‑world work of 2026 and beyond. What’s new in cloud, AI, and security Certifications The new Certification exams roll out in beta beginning this month, with additional releases following over the next few months and are expected to go live later this year. The Microsoft Certified: Machine Learning Operations Engineer Associate Certification is ideal for professionals who deploy, operationalize, and maintain machine learning and generative AI solutions in production to automate, govern, deploy, monitor, and optimize performance. Exam AI-300 beta and training available in March 2026; exam expected to go live in May 2026. The Microsoft Certified: Azure Databricks Data Engineer Associate Certification covers designing and implementing scalable, secure data pipelines by using Azure Databricks. It’s intended for data professionals who want to build real-time analytics and AI-ready data foundations in the cloud. Exam DP-750 beta and training available in March 2026; exam expected to go live in May 2026. The Microsoft Certified: SQL AI Developer Associate Certification validates your ability to integrate AI into modern database solutions with governance and DevOps practices. It’s designed for developers who want to build intelligent, AI-augmented database applications. Exam DP-800 beta and training available in March 2026; exam expected to go live in May 2026. The Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals Certification explores how you can build modern AI apps and agents by using Microsoft Foundry. It’s ideal for beginners who want to build AI applications on Microsoft platforms. Exam AI-901 beta available in April 2026; training expected to be available in March 2026; exam expected to go live in June 2026. The Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate Certification aligns with today’s generative and agentic architectures for planning and managing AI resources in Microsoft Foundry, building generative apps and multistep reasoning workflows, and developing production‑ready agents with multi‑agent orchestration capabilities. Exam AI-103 beta available in April 2026; training expected to be available in March 2026; exam expected to go live in June 2026. The Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Business Professional Certification validates your ability to recognize security risks, apply secure practices, and make informed business decisions that reduce organizational exposure while enabling productivity and AI adoption. Exam SC-730 beta available in May 2026; training expected to be available in May 2026; exam expected to go live in July 2026. The Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate Certification is designed for developers who want to validate their ability to build, integrate, and monitor AI solutions on Azure by using containerized compute, vector-enabled databases, event-driven AI pipelines, serverless functions, secret management, and distributed observability. Exam AI-200 beta and training expected to be available in May 2026; exam expected to go live in July 2026. The Microsoft Certified: Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate Certification expands the security role to include cloud and AI model protection. Prove that you can design and implement secure environments for building and running AI solutions by using current security patterns and controls in enterprise deployments. Exam SC-500 beta available in May 2026; training and exam expected to be available in July 2026. The Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Administrator Associate Certification combines previous hybrid infrastructure tracks to validate skills across Azure and on-premises environments. Exam AZ-802 beta available in July 2026; training and exam expected to be available in August 2026. Retiring Certifications: What you need to know As we introduce new Certifications aligned to evolving AI roles, we’re also retiring several existing ones. The following table itemizes what’s changing and provides key dates for Certification and training retirements in 2026. If your Certification is eligible for renewal, please renew it before the retirement date. Retiring Microsoft Certification Certification retirement date Training retirement date* Replacement Certification Azure Data Scientist Associate (Exam DP-100) June 1, 2026 April 2026 Machine Learning Operations Engineer Associate (Exam AI-300) Azure AI Fundamentals (Exam AI-900) June 30, 2026 April 2026 Azure AI Fundamentals (Exam AI-901) Azure AI Engineer Associate (Exam AI-102) June 30, 2026 April 2026 Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate (Exam AI-103) Azure Developer Associate (Exam AZ-204) July 31, 2026 May 2026 Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate (Exam AI-200) Azure Security Engineer Associate (Exam AZ-500) August 31, 2026 August 2026 Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate (Exam SC-500) Windows Server Hybrid Administrator (Exam AZ-800 and Exam AZ-801) September 2026* September 2026 Windows Server Administrator Associate (Exam AZ-802) * Planned dates Navigating the transition: FAQs The following questions and answers can help you determine how these retirements and expanded portfolio could impact your learning journey: Q. I’ve already earned one of the retiring Certifications. What happens now? A. If you’ve already earned any of the retiring Certifications, your credential remains valid and, on your transcript, until it expires. Retirement does not revoke or invalidate Certifications that were earned. Q. Can I still renew a soon-to-retire Certification? A. Yes, as long as it’s eligible for renewal and you renew it before the Certification officially retires. Fundamentals Certifications don’t expire. Q. I’m preparing for an exam that’s retiring. What should I do? If you’re actively preparing for an exam that’s retiring: If you’ve already registered for the exam, you may continue preparing for it and take it while it’s still available. Keep in mind that after the exam retires, you won’t be able to retake it if you don’t pass, and you won’t be able to renew it. If you haven’t registered for the exam, we strongly recommend that you prepare for and take the new exam instead, as noted in the following table. If you’re not close to testing for this exam Prepare for and take this exam instead Learning path and instructor-led training expected to be available in Exam DP-100 Exam AI-300 March 2026 Exam AI-900 Exam AI-901 March 2026 Exam AI-102 Exam AI-103 March 2026 Exam AZ-204 Exam AI-200 May 2026 Exam AZ-500 Exam SC-500 July 2026 Exam AZ-800 and Exam AZ-801 Exam AZ-802 August 2026 Take the next step: Build your AI-ready skill set Technology is changing fast, and AI is accelerating that change. Our Certifications are built to help you and your organization stay ahead with job‑ready skills. Earning one isn’t just a milestone, it’s a signal that you’re ready to grow with the future of work. We’ll share updates for each new Certification, including beta exams and go live dates, on The Skills Hub Blog. Stay tuned for an announcement of new Certifications focused on AI business solutions in the coming month. Explore more Microsoft Credentials on AI Skills Navigator.New Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate Certification
Today’s AI workloads rely on developers who can integrate services and support resilient architectures. Show your readiness to design and run AI solutions on Azure, with new Exam AI-200 (beta). AI is rewriting how cloud applications are designed and delivered, opening new opportunities for developers who design scalable, secure cloud solutions on Azure. As AI adoption grows, expertise in containers, data services, event-driven architectures, and operational monitoring is the foundation for reliable AI solutions. To support this shift, we’re introducing the new Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate Certification to help you validate your knowledge of building, integrating, and monitoring AI solutions on Azure by using containerized compute, vector-enabled databases, event-driven AI pipelines, serverless functions, secret management, and distributed observability. To earn this new Microsoft Certification, you need to pass Exam AI-200: Developing AI Cloud Solutions on Azure, currently in beta. Is this the right Certification for you? This Certification demonstrates your ability to: Develop containerized solutions on Azure. Develop AI solutions by using Azure data management services. Connect to and consume Azure services. Secure, monitor, and troubleshoot Azure solutions. As a candidate for this Certification, you’re responsible for contributing to all phases of implementing AI solutions on Azure, with an emphasis on back-end services and components. You’re also responsible for supporting all phases of the development lifecycle, including requirements gathering, design, development, deployment, security, and monitoring. You should be proficient in: Azure SDKs and third-party SDKs used in Azure. Azure data management services. Azure monitoring and troubleshooting. Azure messaging and eventing. Vector databases. Python programming. Implementing containerized applications on Azure. Exam AI-200 assesses skills relating to building and operating AI solutions on Azure. It moves beyond traditional web-app patterns to highlight practical skills in the services and architectures that power production AI systems. The exam focuses on deploying and scaling containerized AI workloads and on integrating back-end services to handle messaging and events. As a candidate for this Certification, you’re evaluated on your knowledge of building serverless inference endpoints, orchestrating asynchronous AI processing workflows, implementing semantic retrieval with vector databases, and monitoring the health and performance of AI solutions that deliver real business value at scale. Ready to prove your skills? Take advantage of the discounted beta exam offer. The first 300 people who take Exam AI-200 (beta) on or before May 27, 2026, can get 80% off. To receive the discount, when you register for the exam and are prompted for payment, use AI200Piedmont. This is not a private access code. The seats are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. As noted, you must take the exam on or before May 27, 2026. Please note that this discount is not available in Turkey, Pakistan, India, or China. How to prepare Review the Exam AI-200 (beta) page for training resources, exam registration, and other details. The Exam AI-200 study guide explores key topics covered in the exam. Connect with Microsoft Training Services Partners in your area for in-person offerings. Need other preparation ideas? Check out Just How Does One Prepare for Beta Exams? Ready to get started? You can take Certification exams online, from your home or office. Get the details in Online proctored exams: What to expect and how to prepare. Remember, the number of spots is limited to the first 300 candidates on or before May 27, 2026. Beta exam rescoring begins when the exam goes live, with final results released approximately 10 days later. For more details, read Creating high-quality exams: The path from beta to live. Stay tuned for general availability of this Certification in July 2026. Additional information For more cloud and AI Certification updates, read our recent blog post, The AI job boom is here. Are you ready to showcase your skills? Follow our credentials news on The Skills Hub Blog as we roll out additional new Certifications in May, June, and July 2026. Join our Microsoft Worldwide Learning SME Group for Credentials on LinkedIn for beta exam alerts and opportunities to help shape future Microsoft learning and assessments. If you’d like to learn more about Microsoft Credentials, visit AI Skills Navigator.
New Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate
Ready to move from prototypes to production? Demonstrate your readiness to deliver scalable, real‑world AI apps and agents using Azure services and Microsoft Foundry with the new Exam AI‑103 (beta). As AI changes how work is done across many industries and roles, organizations are rapidly moving AI apps and agents from experimentation into operational use. These shifts create opportunities for software developers who can build generative AI apps and production‑ready agents on Azure. To meet these opportunities, we’re introducing the Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate Certification. This new Microsoft Certification focuses on modern AI development, including generative AI, multimodal scenarios, agentic workflows, and responsible AI, by using Azure services and Microsoft Foundry to deliver scalable, real-world solutions. To earn this new Certification, you need to pass Exam AI-103: Developing AI Apps and Agents on Azure, currently in beta. Is this the right Certification for you? This Certification validates the skills needed to build and deploy AI apps and agents using production‑oriented development practices on Azure by using Foundry, the unified platform for model management, agent configuration, and evaluation pipelines. Exam AI-103 demonstrates your ability to plan and manage Azure AI solutions and to implement generative AI and agentic solutions, computer vision solutions, text analysis solutions, and information extraction solutions. As a candidate for this Certification, you’re a developer who uses Python and Azure services to plan, implement, and manage AI solutions and agents that take advantage of Foundry, working closely with business stakeholders, solution architects, data scientists, DevOps engineers, and cloud security engineers. For this exam, you should have experience developing apps by using Python, and you need to be familiar with the capabilities of general AI, generative AI, and Azure services. Exam AI-103 provides a modernized, scenario‑driven focus on agent development as the core of Azure AI solution building, expanding coverage into multimodal generation (images, video, speech), visual understanding, large language model–first text analysis, and information‑extraction pipelines for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). Candidates demonstrate their ability to work with end‑to‑end solution scenarios that involve grounded, multimodal, governed, and secure AI system design. Ready to prove your skills? Take advantage of the discounted beta exam offer. The first 300 people who take Exam AI-103 (beta) on or before May 7, 2026, can get 80% off. To receive the discount, when you register for the exam and are prompted for payment, use code AI103Claxton. This is not a private access code. The seats are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. As noted, you must take the exam on or before May 7, 2026. Please note that this discount is not available in Turkey, Pakistan, India, or China. How to prepare Get ready to take Exam AI-103 (beta): Review the Exam AI-103 (beta) exam page for details. The Exam AI-103 study guide explores key topics covered in the exam. Work through the self-paced Course AI-103: Develop AI apps and agents on Azure. Connect with Microsoft Training Services Partners in your area for in-person offerings. Need other preparation ideas? Check out Just How Does One Prepare for Beta Exams? Ready to get started? You can take Certification exams online, from your home or office. Get the details in Online proctored exams: What to expect and how to prepare. Remember, only the first 300 candidates can get 80% off Exam AI-103 (beta) with code AI103Claxton on or before May 7, 2026. Beta exam rescoring begins when the exam goes live, with final results released approximately 10 days later. For more details, read Creating high-quality exams: The path from beta to live. Stay tuned for general availability of this Certification in June 2026. Additional information For more cloud and AI Certification updates, read our recent blog post, The AI job boom is here. Are you ready to showcase your skills? Follow our credentials news on The Skills Hub blog as we roll out additional new Certifications in April, May, and June 2026. Join our Microsoft Worldwide Learning SME Group for Credentials on LinkedIn for beta exam alerts and opportunities to help shape future Microsoft learning and assessments. Explore Microsoft Credentials on AI Skills Navigator.
New Microsoft Certified: Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate Certification
As organizations expand across cloud and AI, security expectations are rising fast. Exam SC‑500 (beta) helps you demonstrate your skills across identity, data, compute, and threat defense. Security roles are changing fast. As organizations expand across modern cloud environments, the scope of security has broadened. It’s no longer about protecting a single layer, it’s about securing identities, data, infrastructure, and AI systems together, continuously. Microsoft Certifications are evolving alongside these demands, helping you build and demonstrate the skills needed to secure today’s, and tomorrow’s, environments. Introducing the Microsoft Certified: Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate certification. This new certification validates your ability to design and implement end-to-end security controls across cloud environments using modern, enterprise-ready security patterns. To earn it, you’ll need to pass Exam SC-500: Implementing End-to-End Security Controls for Cloud and AI Workloads, now available in beta. Is this the right Certification for you? This Certification reflects the security skills used to help protect modern cloud environments that support AI workloads, including identity protection, data security, AI model security, and cloud threat defense. It assesses a candidate’s knowledge of how to: Manage identity, access, and governance Secure storage, databases, and networking Secure compute Monitor and manage security posture Exam SC-500 is designed for security engineers who protect organizational systems and data across cloud and hybrid environments by implementing comprehensive security controls that proactively help prevent unauthorized access and mitigate risks. This role spans multiple security domains, including identity, network, application, data, and compute, and it supports the secure implementation and monitoring of infrastructure, identities, and data used by AI workloads. Responsibilities may include: Securing access to resources by using Microsoft Entra ID and Azure Key Vault Enforcing security and regulatory compliance Protecting cloud infrastructure, data platforms, and applications Securing AI solutions Monitoring and improving overall security posture They may work closely with architects, administrators, engineers, analysts, and developers responsible for Azure, Microsoft 365, identity and access, information protection, security operations, DevOps, application development, database platforms, and networks. Candidates for this exam should have practical experience in administration of Azure and hybrid environments, including compute, network, and storage. They need strong familiarity with Microsoft Entra ID and familiarity with Microsoft 365 administration. Ready to prove your cybersecurity skills? Take advantage of the discounted beta exam offer. The first 300 people who take Exam SC-500 (beta) on or before June 8, 2026, can get 80% off. To receive the discount, when you register for the exam and are prompted for payment, use code VistaSC500. This is not a private access code. The seats are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. As noted, you must take the exam on or before June 8, 2026. Please note that this discount is not available in Turkey, Pakistan, India, or China. How to prepare Review the Exam SC-500 (beta) page for training resources, exam registration, and other details. The Exam SC-500 study guide explores key topics covered in the exam. Connect with Microsoft Training Services Partners in your area for in-person offerings. Need other preparation ideas? Check out Just How Does One Prepare for Beta Exams? Ready to get started? You can take Certification exams online, from your home or office. Get the details in Online proctored exams: What to expect and how to prepare. Remember, the number of spots is limited to the first 300 candidates on or before June 8, 2026. Beta exam rescoring begins when the exam goes live, with final results released approximately 10 days later. For more details, read Creating high-quality exams: The path from beta to live. Stay tuned for general availability of this Certification in July 2026. Additional information For more cloud and AI Certification updates, read our recent blog post, The AI job boom is here. Are you ready to showcase your skills? Follow our credentials news on The Skills Hub Blog as we roll out additional new Certifications in May, June, and July 2026. Join our Microsoft Worldwide Learning SME Group for Credentials on LinkedIn for beta exam alerts and opportunities to help shape future Microsoft learning and assessments. If you’d like to learn more about Microsoft Credentials, go to AI Skills Navigator.New Microsoft Certified: Intelligent Applications Builder Associate Certification
Design the next generation of AI‑powered business applications. Show you can combine apps, agents, automation, and Copilot into intelligent solutions in Microsoft Power Platform, with Exam AB‑410 (beta). The way business solutions are built is changing fast. Today, it’s not enough to create an app or automate a task in isolation; builders need to bring together apps, agents, automation, data, and AI experiences into solutions that can adapt to real business needs. That’s why we’re introducing the Microsoft Certified: Intelligent Applications Builder Associate Certification, designed for professionals who are ready to use Microsoft Power Platform, Copilot, and natural language to build the next generation of intelligent business applications. To earn this new Microsoft Certification, you need to pass Exam AB-410: Building Intelligent Applications, currently in beta. Is this the right Certification for you? This Certification validates the skills of intelligent app builders who can confidently navigate the evolving AI and agent ecosystem, including how to: Create a foundation for intelligent applications. Create intelligent applications. Build business application logic and automation. Candidates for this Certification: Build AI-powered solutions in Microsoft Power Platform by using Copilot, natural language prompts, and low-code tools. Create apps, data models, and flows that connect agents, AI models and prompts, and visualizations. Develop Dataverse data models and model-driven and canvas apps. Integrate agents and Copilot features across apps and Power Pages. Build cloud flows and business logic. They partner with admins on security, identity, roles, and policies; governance teams on responsible AI, ALM, solutions and pipelines, and monitoring; builders and architects on solution design; and stakeholders on requirements, iteration, and adoption. For this exam, candidates should have experience with Dataverse modeling, Power Automate cloud flows, Power Apps development, AI capabilities in Microsoft Power Platform, building solution assets with natural language, and Power Pages. Before taking Exam AB-410, candidates should have: Familiarity with Copilot in Power Apps, Copilot in Power Automate, Copilot in Power Pages, and Copilot in Dataverse. Awareness of creating agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio. Foundational knowledge of AI models and prompts in AI Hub. Ability to map business processes to flows, agents, or app capabilities. Ability to work with Dataverse as a core data platform. Familiarity with low-code automation, including Power Fx. Awareness of environment governance, roles, policies, and solution lifecycle steps. Ready to prove your skills? Take advantage of the discounted beta exam offer. The first 300 people who take Exam AB-410 (beta) on or before June 17, 2026, can get 80% off. To receive the discount, when you register for the exam and are prompted for payment, use AB410KBMaui. This is not a private access code. The seats are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. As noted, you must take the exam on or before June 17, 2026. Please note that this discount is not available in Turkey, Pakistan, India, or China. How to prepare Review the Exam AB-410 (beta) page for training resources, exam registration and other details. The Exam AB-410 study guide explores key topics covered in the exam. Connect with Microsoft Training Services Partners in your area for in-person offerings. Need other preparation ideas? Check out Just How Does One Prepare for Beta Exams? Ready to get started? You can take Certification exams online, from your home or office. Get the details in Online proctored exams: What to expect and how to prepare. Remember, the number of spots is limited to the first 300 candidates on or before June 17, 2026. Beta exam rescoring begins when the exam goes live, with final results released approximately 10 days later. For more details, read Creating high-quality exams: The path from beta to live. Stay tuned for general availability of this Certification in July 2026. Additional information For more AI business solution Certification updates, read our recent blog post, The AI job boom continues: Build the skills that move business forward. Follow our Microsoft Credentials news on The Skills Hub Blog as we roll out additional new Certifications in June and July 2026. Join our Microsoft Worldwide Learning SME Group for Credentials on LinkedIn for beta exam alerts and opportunities to help shape future Microsoft learning and assessments. If you’d like to learn more about Microsoft Credentials, go to AI Skills Navigator.New GitHub Certified: Agentic AI Developer
The developer skill set is evolving as daily workflows change with AI agents. Be among the first to prove your skills in building intelligent AI-powered workflows with the new Exam GH-600 (beta). We’re looking for members of the GitHub community who are already exploring how AI agents fit into modern development workflows to help us test a new beta exam. GitHub Certified: Agentic AI Developer, is a new, role-based certification focused on how developers and teams operate, supervise, and integrate AI agents across the software development lifecycle (SDLC). To earn this new Certification, you need to pass Exam GH-600: Agentic AI Developer, currently in beta. If you’ve been working with tools like GitHub Copilot, experimenting with agent workflows, or thinking about how to safely introduce AI into your development processes, we’d love your input. Is this the right certification for you? This Certification could be a great fit if you’re a software developer, platform engineer, DevOps engineer, security engineer, or technical product manager working with AI-assisted or agent-driven development workflows. It highlights your ability to supervise and govern autonomous behavior, and ensure reliable, secure delivery using GitHub. It also validates your expertise in configuring agent workflows, managing execution environments, and collaborating across teams to build and operate modern, AI-enabled development systems. GH-600 is a role-based exam, including scenario-based questions for AI-enabled environments. The exam covers how to: Integrate agents into the SDLC Define boundaries between planning, reasoning, and execution Configure tools, permissions, and environments for agents Manage memory, state, and long-running execution Evaluate and improve agent performance Coordinate multi-agent workflows Implement guardrails and human-in-the-loop systems This is less about knowing a specific feature and more about understanding how to operate AI systems safely and effectively in real-world development workflows. Why earn a GitHub Certification? GitHub Certifications offer professionals, teams, and organizations a globally recognized way to validate GitHub expertise and to stand out in a rapidly shifting digital landscape. These credentials are a signal of deep technical proficiency, real-world readiness, and alignment with in-demand job roles across the tech ecosystem. Whether you're an individual looking to boost your career or an enterprise enabling team growth, GitHub Certifications allow you to verify critical skills across the GitHub platform from foundational collaboration workflows to advanced DevOps practices. A new direction for GitHub Certifications GH-600 is part of a broader shift toward certifications that reflect how development is evolving. As AI agents become part of everyday workflows, the skills required are changing from writing code to designing, supervising, and improving systems that write and operate on code. We’re excited to build this with the community, and we’d love for you to be part of it. Ready to get involved? To receive this discount, when you register for the exam and are prompted for payment, use GH600Flanders. This is not a private access code. Spots are limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis. The first 100 people who take Exam GH-600 (beta) on or before May 31, 2026, can get 80% off market price. Please note that this beta exam is not available in Turkey, Pakistan, India, or China. Additional details on availability and registration will be shared soon. Get ready to take Exam GH-600 (beta). Review the GitHub Certification study guide for details. Explore the exam scope and topics to understand what’s covered. Take the beta exam and share your feedback after completing it. Beta exam rescoring begins when the exam goes live, with final results will be released 8 weeks after the beta period concludes. Stay tuned for general availability of this Certification in July 2026. Want even more in-depth preparation? Connect with our Training Service Partners, who are also trusted GitHub partners, offering best-in-class resources to help you prepare.
