Salesforce Officially Announce the AI Associate Certification

This week, Salesforce has officially announced their AI Associate Certification, perfectly timed ahead of major Dreamforce announcements next week.

Salesforce has gone BIG into AI this year, and it was inevitable that they would release certifications (Data Cloud Consultant included!) that can sit alongside their new messaging, AI + Data + CRM = Customer Magic. As the name suggests, this is an entry-level certification designed for professionals of all backgrounds to skills up on Artificial Intelligence, and some of the surrounding topics such as security and ethics.

AI Associate Certification

The AI Associate Certification was officially released on the 6th September, meaning that you can register for it straight away on your Webassessor account, as well as check out the official study guide on Trailhead.

Salesforce have designed this certification not only to be aimed at Salesforce professionals, but also business leaders, who inevitably need to skill up on AI sooner rather than later.

Just like the Salesforce Associate certification which has been taken by entry-level Salesforce professionals as well as sales reps, Salesforce recruiters, and some other niche roles (such as our content team here at Salesforce Ben), it looks like Salesforce have designed the AI Associate certification in a similar fashion.

Whilst the exam is presumably focused on a broad set of roles, Salesforce does state that candidates should have a foundational understanding of Salesforce’s core capabilities, as well as how to navigate around the system. If you still need to level up in this area, the Salesforce Associate certification is a perfect place to start.

The AI Associate certification has a fairly similar exam and passing criteria which looks like the following:

• 40 multiple-choice questions
• 70 minutes to complete the exam
• 65% passing score
• $75 fee
• Retakes are free
• No prerequisites

All companies will inevitably need to move towards adopting AI, as they did with their digital transformation, and now individuals within companies need to upskills on AI basics. This is exactly the type of content that Salesforce have included within the exam content, which looks like below…

• AI Fundamentals: 17%
  • Explain the basic principles and applications of AI within Salesforce.
  • Differentiate between the types of AI and their capabilities.
• AI Capabilities in CRM: 8%
  • Identify CRM AI capabilities.
  • Describe the benefits of AI as they apply to CRM.
• Ethical Considerations of AI: 39%
  • Describe the ethical challenges of AI (e.g. human bias in machine learning, lack of transparency, etc.).
  • Apply Salesforce’s Trusted AI Principles to given scenarios.
• Data for AI: 36%
  • Describe the importance of data quality.
  • Describe the elements/components of data quality.

Although some of these topic areas might seem out of your grasp at the moment, just remember this is an entry-level certification, and these areas can be skilled up on fairly quickly. In fact, I saw about 10 LinkedIn statuses saying they passed within hours of the release! 

Salesforce have also released a fantastic Trail Mix on Trailhead including all their GenAI and AI content: “Prepare for your Salesforce Certified AI Associate Credential”.

Summary

As we all brace ourselves for the tidal wave of transformation that is going to be coming our way, courtesy of artificial intelligence. Salesforce’s AI Associate certification program comes just at the right time.

Of course, there are many more complex elements of AI that we will inevitably need to also skill up on, but we all need to start somewhere, and I’m looking forward to diving into this certification myself.