AWS AI & ML Scholars

AWS and Udacity are partnering to offer a beginner-friendly course in Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), focusing on its historical context, core Machine Learning (ML) concepts, and real-world applications.

The Challenge program is available to all eligible learners who complete the enrollment application on the program website within the program duration.

• In this course, you'll explore the foundational concepts of generative artificial intelligence. To earn your certificate of completion, you’ll need to finish the AWS AI Practitioner Challenge course and successfully complete two projects.

• Throughout your learning journey, you'll have access to an online community platform where you can connect with fellow learners - whether you need support with challenges, want to exchange ideas, or simply network. Get ready for an engaging and rewarding experience!

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Submit the online application form on the Udacity website
• Be 18 years of age or older
• Basic Python knowledge
• English proficiency

No, there is no cost incurred to the learner.

• The program will accept applications from March 24, 2026.
• It means a student can join at any time when the program is active up until the program reaches 100,000 enrollees. The program is self-paced during the scholarship duration, which means you can finish at your own pace before the classroom end date of June 24, 2026.

Learners can self-enroll in the program by completing the application beginning on March 24, 2026. To learn more, please visit the program website.

• 3/24/2026 - 6/24/2026: Application Form Open on Udacity Website
• 3/24/2026 - 6/24/2026: Challenge - Introducing Generative AI with AWS
• 7/05/2026: Assessment sent via email
• 7/13/2026: Assessment deadline
• 7/27/2026: Nanodegree program recipients announced
• 8/04/2026 - 11/04/2026: Udacity Nanodegree

You will have immediate access to the course upon enrollment and can continue learning throughout the program duration. Please note that the Challenge classroom will close on June 24, 2026. We encourage you to complete the course and submit the projects as soon as possible before this date to receive your certificate of completion.

During the Challenge Phase, you'll have the opportunity to work on two projects based on the instructions in the classroom. It's a great opportunity to showcase your work while moving forward with the course.

This is a fully online program. Throughout the course, students get to learn through online videos in their classroom.

You should maintain the same email address you used to apply for the program for the duration of your entire course in order to maintain eligibility for this program.

There are no withdrawal or postponing options available in the program. You should only join this program if you are committed to learning within the defined timeline of the program.

After successfully completing the Challenge phase and downloading your certificate of completion, you will receive an email with a short assessment for your chosen track available during July 5-13, 2026 period. Be sure to complete your assessment within this window to be eligible for the next step in this learning journey!

Learners are expected to spend around 10 hours in total to complete the coursework on time.

You can start learning right after you enroll. After you enroll successfully, you can visit your classroom from to find the content and begin your journey.

We'll have an online Circle Student Community where you can ask questions, get answers, and find support from your peers, student advocates.

Once you are enrolled in the program, you will find the link to Circle Student Community in your classroom. Make sure to use the same email and password associated with Udacity. The student community has been created specifically for this program to enable you to connect with your classmates, support each other's work, answer questions, and share relevant ideas and resources.

The Support team will contact you via email. Please make sure to check your e-mail frequently and you will need to use one email for everything during the learning journey. Note: Check your spam or promotions folder to see if you received emails from our side.

• New this year, learners who successfully graduate from the Challenge Phase will receive a free 3-month subscription to AWS Skill Builder, an online learning center for building cloud and AI skills.

• With AWS Skill Builder, learners can access hundreds of digital training courses, hands-on labs, curated learning plans, certification exam preparation resources, and interactive learning experiences created by AWS experts to help deepen cloud and AI knowledge. This also creates a direct pathway to continue your learning journey with AWS, including the opportunity to prepare for and pursue the AWS AI Practitioner Certification.

Additional details about how and when to activate AWS Skill Builder access will be shared with eligible learners later in the program.

You will be able to download your Certificate of Completion once you have completed 100% of the content and passed the two projects included in this Challenge course. You will have detailed instructions on how to complete these projects inside your classroom.

To download your certificate, you must successfully complete 100% of your Introducing Generative AI with AWS track (finish the content and pass the projects) within the timeframe allotted.

There are no documents required. Once you are eligible for the certificate after completing the track and passing the projects, you will be eligible to download your certificate.

Certificates will be issued based on the name provided in your classroom. You can edit your name from inside your Classroom settings BEFORE generating the certificate but not after. Please make sure that the first name and last name displayed in your Classroom settings appear in the way you would like them displayed on your certificate.

Udacity only provides graduates with a digital copy of the certificate. However, you can always download and print your certificate, if you wish.

The challenge is designed to give you a strong foundational understanding of AI and practical building skills. You will cover:

• Core concepts of AI and machine learning, their differences, and real-world applications.
• Principles of responsible AI, including ethical challenges and human-centered design.
• Approaches to building generative AI solutions, such as Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) and fine-tuning.
• Key prompt engineering concepts to design clear, effective prompts.
• How to use PartyRock to build AI apps without managing backend infrastructure.

• PartyRock is an application layer built directly on top of Amazon Bedrock.
• It abstracts away backend management, handling API orchestration and infrastructure scaling automatically.
• You can experiment and create applications using generative AI without needing an AWS account or a credit card.
• PartyRock is completely free to use, though you should sign up with a personal account.

• Standard chatbots often suffer from "Blank Page Syndrome," where users must type out long, detailed contexts repeatedly to get consistent results.
• Apps solve this by using Automated Prompt Engineering and Variable Injection.
• When you click "Generate" in an app, PartyRock dynamically injects your user input into a frozen prompt template, ensuring reliable and consistent tools rather than random conversations.

PartyRock uses an Image Playground with a different architecture than text models, navigating a map of visual concepts called Latent Space.

The model starts with pure static (random noise) and, guided by your prompt's vectors, iteratively removes the noise to "hallucinate" a clear image.

• Foundation Models are inherently poor at processing structured data like spreadsheets because they process information as a linear stream of tokens, lacking the ability to "see" a 2D grid.
• PartyRock bypasses this by embedding a high-performance OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) engine, like DuckDB, directly into the application.
• The LLM inspects the data schema to generate a precise SQL query, the OLAP engine executes the math deterministically, and the numeric result is returned to the LLM to summarize.

• You need to build a reusable, shareable productivity or wellness app in PartyRock.
• Your app must include at least 2 input fields and 2 output widgets.
• You must test your app multiple times, compare it to a regular chatbot, and submit a public shareable PartyRock app link.
• You will also need to complete mandatory reflection questions about what your app does and the differences you noticed between your app and a standard chatbot.

• You will use PartyRock's data analysis feature to upload a dataset and extract meaningful insights.
• You must ask Whiskers at least 3 questions about your data (e.g., trends, patterns) and ask it to generate an analysis table.
• You can use sample datasets provided, such as Air Quality Data or Body Measurements Data, or find one on the Registry of Open Data on AWS.
• For submission, you will upload the generated .csv file and answer reflection questions about your insights, the prompts you used, and the accuracy of the AI analysis.