AI FND

Generative AI has moved into everyday work faster than any technology before it — drafting documents, answering customers, summarising meetings, writing code. But good results do not come from random experimentation. And since the EU AI Act entered into force, understanding AI is no longer optional: Article 4 expects organisations to ensure that the people working with AI systems actually understand them.

This foundation course takes you, over two instructor-led days, from scattered hands-on experience to a structured working understanding of artificial intelligence: what today’s systems can and cannot do, where they create value, where they fail, and what the law expects when you put them to work. You leave able to judge AI — not just use it.

Who this course is for

• Professionals in any function — management, operations, marketing, HR, finance — who use AI tools and want to understand what is behind them
• Team leads and managers responsible for meeting the AI Act’s AI-literacy expectations for their people
• Analysts, project managers and consultants preparing for their first AI project
• Anyone with an interest in, or a need to implement, AI in an organisation — no technical background required

What you will learn

• Explain the core concepts and terminology of artificial intelligence — machine learning, deep learning, generative AI and large language models — in plain business language
• Distinguish what AI systems genuinely do well from what they only appear to do well, and recognise their practical limits
• Identify where AI creates value in your own sector, working from real European examples
• Recognise the characteristic risks of AI — bias, hallucination, data leakage — and apply the everyday habits that contain them
• Use effective prompting techniques and judge the quality of AI output systematically
• Navigate the EU AI Act: risk categories, the obligations that follow from them, and what Article 4 AI literacy means for you and your team

Course outline

Day one — How AI works, and how to work with it

• What artificial intelligence is — and what it is not: key concepts and terminology
• From machine learning to generative AI: how today’s systems are built and trained
• Hands-on: working effectively with AI assistants — prompting patterns that hold up in practice
• What AI does well, where it fails, and how to tell the difference
• Where AI creates value: applications across sectors, with worked examples

Day two — Risks, rules and putting AI to work

• The risk landscape: bias, hallucination, privacy and data leakage — hands-on, with what to do about each
• The EU AI Act: risk categories, prohibited practices and the obligations that follow
• Article 4 AI literacy: what organisations must ensure, and how this course helps you meet it
• Introducing AI into your organisation: choosing use cases, setting guardrails, measuring value
• Exam preparation and sample questions

Prerequisites

None. The course is designed as an entry point and assumes no technical background and no programming. If you have ever used an AI chatbot, you have all the experience required.

Exam and certification

The course prepares you for the ICO Artificial Intelligence FND examination, awarded by ICO International Certification Organization GmbH — an accredited certification exam, not a certificate of attendance.

• 30 multiple-choice questions — one, several or all answer options may be correct
• 45 minutes, closed book
• Pass mark of 60%
• Taken online, at a time and place you choose
• Certificate valid for 36 months

The exam is available as an optional add-on to the course. Full details are published by the awarding body at ico-cert.org.

What is included

• Two days (16 hours) of live, instructor-led online training, delivered in English
• Small groups — never more than 16 participants
• Complete course materials, exercises and sample exam questions
• Practical work in every block: you use AI systems during the course, not after it
• Certificate of attendance; the ICO Artificial Intelligence FND exam as an optional add-on