All certifications / Compare / Azure AI Fundamentals vs Azure AI Engineer
Azure AI Fundamentals vs Azure AI Engineer: which should you take?
Which first?
Take Azure AI Fundamentals first. AI-900 gives the vocabulary and service overview that AI-102 assumes, though it isn't required.
Who each one is for
Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-900): Beginners and non-developers who want to understand AI workloads, machine learning basics and responsible AI.
Azure AI Engineer (AI-102): Developers and engineers who build solutions with Azure AI services, search and generative AI.
Key differences
- AI-102 expects you to work with SDKs, REST APIs and deployment; AI-900 is about knowing what each service does.
- AI-102 covers designing, securing and monitoring solutions; AI-900 stays at the concept level.
- Both cover responsible AI principles.
Side by side
| Item | Azure AI Fundamentals | Azure AI Engineer |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Microsoft | Microsoft |
| Exam | AI-900 | AI-102 |
| Questions | Not published (Microsoft fundamentals exams usually have about 40–60 questions, which can include multiple choice, drag-and-drop and yes/no series) | Not published (Microsoft associate exams usually have 40–60 questions, which can include case studies) |
| Time | 45 minutes | 100 minutes |
| To pass | 700 on a 1–1000 scale | 700 on a 1–1000 scale |
| Free study plan here | – | – |
| Career tracks | Data & AI | Data & AI |
Exam domains
Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-900)
- Describe AI workloads and considerations 19%
- Fundamental principles of machine learning on Azure 19%
- Computer vision workloads on Azure 19%
- Natural language processing workloads on Azure 19%
- Generative AI workloads on Azure 24%
Azure AI Engineer (AI-102)
- Plan and manage an Azure AI solution 24%
- Implement generative AI solutions 18%
- Implement an agentic solution 8%
- Implement computer vision solutions 13%
- Implement natural language processing solutions 18%
- Implement knowledge mining and information extraction solutions 19%
Exam details come from each vendor's published objectives as recorded in the study plans; confirm them on the vendor's page before you book.
Study either one for free
Week-by-week lessons, quizzes, exam simulations and hands-on labs.
Azure AI Fundamentals plan Azure AI Engineer planWeek-by-week lessons, quizzes, exam simulations and hands-on labs.