IBM’s No-Code AI Course Draws 750,000+ Learners Amid Skills Surge
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An IBM-developed online specialisation on Coursera aimed at non-technical learners is drawing renewed attention from business users, as organisations look for accessible ways to build basic artificial intelligence skills across their workforces.
In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), a customer-insights professional using the handle @ds_fafa_ highlighted IBM’s “AI Foundations for Everyone” specialisation, listing its four modules and recommending it as suitable for beginners without coding experience. Her endorsement comes as Coursera reports surging demand for generative AI content: in 2024 alone, the platform recorded 3 million new enrollments in GenAI courses – about six learners every minute – and by mid-2025 it had passed 10 million cumulative GenAI enrollments, averaging 12 enrollments a minute.
IBM’s specialisation, available on Coursera for several years, sits in this expanding market for beginner-friendly AI education and is positioned as a way for executives, managers and students to understand and experiment with AI without writing code.
Course Structure and Delivery
The “AI Foundations for Everyone” specialisation consists of four courses developed by IBM and delivered via its Skills Network on Coursera:
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Generative AI: Introduction and Applications
Generative AI: Prompt Engineering Basics
Building AI Powered Chatbots Without Programming
The first course, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI), is presented by IBM educator Rav Ahuja and covers core ideas such as machine learning, deep learning, neural networks, natural language processing and computer vision, alongside cognitive computing concepts. The syllabus also introduces key responsible-AI topics including fairness, transparency and bias, using real-world case studies to illustrate how AI can misbehave and how such risks can be mitigated.
The second and third courses move from fundamentals to hands-on use of generative models. Generative AI: Introduction and Applications surveys use cases across text, code, images and other media, while Generative AI: Prompt Engineering Basics focuses on crafting clear instructions, iterating on prompts and using system and user messages effectively when working with large language models.
The capstone, Building AI Powered Chatbots Without Programming, walks learners through designing and deploying virtual assistants using IBM Watson technologies, including configuring intents, entities and dialog flows and then integrating a no-code chatbot into a website.
Coursera lists the specialisation as beginner level, with flexible deadlines and fully online delivery. The introductory AI course alone has a 4.7 out of 5 rating based on more than 8,000 reviews and over 750,000 enrollments as of late 2025, indicating sustained interest from learners worldwide.
Learners who complete all four courses and pass the required assessments can earn an IBM digital badge issued via Credly, signalling foundational skills in AI concepts, generative AI usage and responsible-AI considerations.
Cost and Access
The specialisation follows Coursera’s standard model: learners can either purchase access to the sequence directly or subscribe through Coursera Plus, which offers unlimited access to thousands of courses for an individual subscription currently advertised at about US$59 per month (with regional price variations).
While Coursera historically allowed many courses to be audited for free, the current enrollment flow for IBM’s AI Foundations pathway emphasises paid access or financial aid for those who qualify, rather than open-ended free auditing.
IBM’s Upskilling Strategy and Skills Network
The specialisation is part of IBM’s broader Skills Network initiative, built on the Open edX platform, which now serves more than 9 million learners worldwide across over 150 customised portals. IBM has also publicly committed to training 2 million people in AI by 2026, positioning entry-level offerings like AI Foundations as on-ramps for non-technical professionals.
According to the Skills Network case study, IBM uses the same infrastructure to support internal staff upskilling and external programmes delivered through partners, with AI, cloud and data science among the most prominent themes. The Coursera specialisation essentially packages a subset of this content into a structured, four-course pathway aimed at people who may not have a STEM background but need to understand how AI works and where it can be applied.
Learner Demand and Outcomes
The renewed attention to IBM’s AI Foundations course comes against a backdrop of rapid mainstream adoption of AI tools in education and work.
A 2024 Global AI Student Survey by the Digital Education Council found that 86% of students worldwide already use AI in their studies, with 54% using AI tools at least weekly, yet roughly half still say they do not feel “AI ready”. The same report highlights concerns about privacy, data security and over-reliance on AI, suggesting that introductory courses need to balance practical skills with critical understanding of risks.
In the corporate and higher-education sectors, providers are also reporting measurable impacts from AI-enhanced learning. An analysis of AI in education statistics published by Engageli in November 2025, drawing on multiple research firms, estimates that the global AI in education market reached US$7.57 billion in 2025, with projections rising to about US$112.3 billion by 2034 as institutions invest in personalised, AI-supported instruction. That same synthesis cites evidence that AI-powered active learning environments can yield significantly higher test scores and engagement than traditional lecture-based formats.
Within this environment, IBM’s Coursera pathway occupies a niche at the “foundation” end of the skills spectrum. Public learner reviews on Coursera often describe the courses as accessible for non-technical backgrounds and particularly useful for clarifying terminology and ethics, though some reviewers note that they are introductory compared with full-length academic programmes or advanced technical certificates.
Comparisons with Similar Offerings
IBM’s “AI Foundations for Everyone” sits alongside several other large-scale introductory AI courses that target general audiences rather than programmers.
On Coursera, DeepLearning.AI’s “AI For Everyone” – highlighted by Coursera as one of the platform’s most popular courses – focuses on business strategy and organisational impact of AI, with less emphasis on building or deploying tools. It covers how AI projects are run and how teams should think about data and ethics, but does not include a no-code chatbot project like IBM’s specialisation.
Google’s “AI Essentials”, launched on Coursera in 2024 and listed among the top trending courses of that year, emphasises workplace productivity, teaching learners how to apply AI tools such as Google’s Gemini in everyday tasks like writing, slide creation and data summarisation. Compared with IBM’s programme, it is more tightly oriented around Google’s ecosystem and office workflows.
Outside Coursera, IBM also offers “AI for Everyone: Master the Basics” on edX – a shorter, roughly eight-hour course that introduces core AI ideas and use cases. That course provides a quicker conceptual overview but does not cover prompt engineering or chatbot building in the depth offered by the Coursera specialisation, making the latter more suitable for learners who want to experiment with generative AI tools and basic virtual assistants.
Taken together, these programmes indicate that major technology providers are segmenting the beginner market: some courses emphasise strategy and concepts, while IBM’s AI Foundations specialization deliberately combines conceptual grounding with simple, guided hands-on projects.
Broader Trends and Outlook
Beyond individual courses, global labour-market forecasts suggest that basic AI literacy will become a core expectation for many roles. The World Economic Forum’s “Future of Jobs 2025” report estimates that structural labour-market changes between 2025 and 2030 will create the equivalent of 170 million new jobs and displace about 92 million, with net growth of 78 million jobs worldwide. The same report projects that, on average, around 39% of workers’ current skill sets will change by 2030, underscoring the scale of reskilling required.
Survey data compiled in Engageli’s 2025 AI-in-education analysis points to strong institutional uptake: some studies it cites show high adoption of generative AI tools across education organisations and significant improvements in learning outcomes where AI is integrated into active-learning designs.
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