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Hello everyone,
A university just handed out free AI training with zero catch — no enrollment, no tuition, no card required at checkout.
That almost never happens. And the fact that it's coming from a school with no obvious AI-industry incentive is exactly why it's worth five hours of your week.
On August 17, George Fox University opened public registration for two self-paced AI courses: AI BASICS: Fluency & Discernment and AI ADVANCED: Leadership & Wisdom. Both are free. Both end in a certificate. Neither is the prompt-writing crash course you've already seen a dozen times this year.
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Back to the Story
Two Courses, One Bigger Idea
George Fox built two tracks for two different audiences. Each one follows the same basic shape — five modules, roughly an hour apiece, a video lesson, an automated quiz, a hands-on activity, and a stack of extra resources — but they're aimed at completely different outcomes.
5
Modules Per Course
~1hr
Per Module
$0
Tuition
1
Certificate Earned
Pick Your Track
Track | Best For | You'll Learn | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
AI BASICS: Fluency & Discernment | Newcomers to generative AI | How LLMs work, effective prompting, spotting bias and hallucinations | Foundational AI fluency plus certificate |
AI ADVANCED: Leadership & Wisdom | Leaders and decision-makers | Multi-step AI agents, platform customization, change management, AI governance | Strategic AI leadership plus certificate |
The five-module path inside each free course
The Uncommon Part
Most free AI courses stop at technical skill. These two go further, weaving in the ethical, social, and — notably — theological dimensions of AI use. AI ADVANCED goes deeper still, training leaders to orchestrate multi-step AI agents, run change management, and build AI governance frameworks, all grounded in a faith-based lens on power, labor, and truth.
Brian Doak, the university's vice president of digital programs and academic innovation, described the program as one of the only structured courses of its kind built around a Christian faith perspective, offered free to the local community and the wider world.
Reading Between the Modules
Here's the pattern worth noticing: most corporate AI training optimizes for speed — how fast you can ship with a chatbot. This curriculum spends equal time on the opposite skill: knowing when the output in front of you shouldn't be trusted yet. That's a harder thing to teach, and a rarer one to find for free.
Quick Questions
Do I need to be a student?
No. Both courses are open to the public — tech novices, working professionals, and organizational leaders alike.
Does it count for college credit?
No. You'll earn a Certificate of Completion for your résumé or LinkedIn profile, not academic credit.
How long do I have to finish?
Both courses are self-paced, and George Fox hasn't published a completion deadline, so you can move through the five modules on your own schedule.
How To Start
Registration is open now for one course, both, or whichever track fits where you are. You can sign up through George Fox University's official course page.
New to generative AI? Start with AI BASICS. Already comfortable with the tools and thinking about how your team should use them? AI ADVANCED is the more interesting seat.
One Question Before You Go
Free courses are everywhere. Free courses with structured modules, real accountability, and a certificate at the end are much harder to find. Would you actually finish a five-hour AI course if a university handed you a certificate for it?
Hit reply and tell me — BASICS, ADVANCED, or both. I read every response.
Catch you in the next issue,