AI-901
AI-901: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals
Everything you need for Microsoft exam AI-901: format, passing score, the two skill areas, a study plan and free sample questions.
- Level
- Fundamentals
- Passing score
- 700 / 1000
- Replaces
- AI-900
- Hands-on
- 55–60%
AI-901 is Microsoft’s entry-level exam for people starting a career in AI solution development on Azure. Passing it earns the Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals credential. It replaced AI-900, which Microsoft retired on June 30, 2026.
Do not let the word “fundamentals” mislead you. This is no longer a purely conceptual exam. More than half the score sits in a skill area called implement AI solutions by using Microsoft Foundry, and Microsoft’s own audience profile now expects knowledge of Python syntax and familiarity with REST APIs, SDKs and CLIs. AI-900 asked you to describe things; AI-901 asks you to build small things.
What the exam covers
| Skill area | Weight |
|---|---|
| Identify AI concepts and capabilities | 40–45% |
| Implement AI solutions by using Microsoft Foundry | 55–60% |
Two areas only, which makes this a simpler exam to plan for than most. The first covers responsible AI, how generative models work, choosing a model, and recognising which AI workload fits a scenario. The second is hands-on: prompts, deploying a model, a small chat client, a single agent, text and speech, vision, and information extraction with Content Understanding.
Where to start
New to all of this? Read the exam format guide first, then the prerequisites to check you have the background Microsoft assumes. Coming from AI-900? Start with what changed — it is more than a renumbering.
AI-901 guides
- AI-901 exam format: questions, passing score, time and costThe AI-901 format: passing score, languages, how it is delivered, what is published about length and price, and the question types to expect.
- AI-901 vs AI-900: what changed?The differences between AI-901 and the retired AI-900: two domains instead of five, hands-on Foundry work, and no more classic machine learning.
- AI-901 study plan: pass in 4 weeksA four-week AI-901 study plan weighted by the two official skill areas, with hands-on Foundry tasks for each week.
- Free AI-901 sample questions with answersFive free AI-901 practice questions across both skill areas, each with an explained answer.
- AI-901 identify AI concepts and capabilities explainedThe AI-901 concepts domain explained: the six responsible AI principles, model choice and configuration, and recognising AI workloads.
- AI-901 implement AI solutions with Foundry explainedThe largest AI-901 domain explained: prompts, model and agent deployment, the Foundry SDK, speech, vision and Content Understanding.
- Is AI-901 hard? An honest look at the difficultyHow hard AI-901 really is, who finds it easy, who struggles, and the specific things that catch people out on exam day.
- AI-901 exam tips: how to gain marks on the dayPractical AI-901 exam tips: how to read the question types, the distinctions that decide marks, and how to manage the sitting itself.
- AI-901 prerequisites: what you need before you startThere are no formal AI-901 prerequisites, but Microsoft assumes Python, Azure familiarity and API basics. Here is what that means in practice.
- Is AI-901 worth it? Who should take the examIs AI-901 worth taking? Who benefits, what it costs, and when a role-based Azure certification is the better use of your time.