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- More employers are seeking candidates with generative AI skills.
- OpenAI said it's now going to offer certifications for job candidates.
- The company set a goal to certify 10 million Americans by 2030.
Your employer may want you to have AI skills. OpenAI said it wants to help you get there.
OpenAI announced Thursday that it will now offer certifications for "different levels of AI fluency" as part of its ongoing efforts to train more "AI-savvy workers."
The program is an extension of the free educational resource hub at OpenAI Academy that the company made available in March to increase AI literacy.
The company said in the Thursday announcement that it aims to certify 10 million Americans by 2030. OpenAI partnered with Walmart, which employs more than 2 million people, to launch the certification program.
Walmart's chief people officer, Donna Morris, said in a note on Thursday that associate-level employees will have access to a "tailored version" of the certification.
A Walmart spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The certification program will be a constant work in progress as OpenAI learns about the needs of various employees through its partners, including local governments and private companies, an OpenAI spokesperson told Business Insider.
The spokesperson said the pilot phase of the certification program will launch around the end of 2025 or early 2026.
OpenAI is also launching a jobs platform where businesses or local governments can find an AI-skilled employee suited to their needs. The spokesperson said that the platform will launch in the second half of 2026.
OpenAI's training program appears to respond to an increasing demand from employers seeking AI-fluent workers.
A Microsoft survey of 31,000 full-time or self-employed knowledge workers, found that 71% of business leaders would prefer a less-experienced candidate with AI skills to a more-experienced candidate without them.
"We realize that upskilling or reskilling programs have a mixed record, and haven't always led to better jobs or higher wages," OpenAI said in a statement. "But we've studied what has and hasn't worked in the past, and are designing our programs to better serve the needs of both workers and companies."
