AI-901 Exam Guide (2026): What's New in Azure AI Fundamentals

Microsoft refreshed its entry-level AI certification, and the 2026 edition — AI-901: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals — looks meaningfully different from the AI-900 exam many study guides still describe. If you're starting from an older playlist or a 2023 cheat sheet, you'll be studying the wrong things. This guide breaks down what AI-901 actually covers in 2026, how it's scored, and how to prepare efficiently.

What is the AI-901 exam?

AI-901 is Microsoft's fundamentals-level certification for Azure AI. It's designed for anyone — technical or not — who wants to prove they understand core AI concepts and the Azure services used to build AI solutions. There are no prerequisites, no coding required, and it's a popular first step before role-based certifications like AI-102 (Azure AI Engineer).

The big change in the 2026 version is its center of gravity: the exam now revolves around Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft's unified platform for building generative AI apps and agents. Where the older AI-900 spread attention across classic machine learning, computer vision and NLP, AI-901 leans hard into generative AI and hands-on Foundry concepts.

AI-901 skills measured (2026)

The current skills outline (effective April 15, 2026) is organized into two domains:

Domain 1 — Identify AI concepts and capabilities

• 1.1 Describe principles of responsible AI — fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency and accountability.
• 1.2 Identify AI model components and configurations — models, prompts, tokens, grounding, temperature and similar settings.
• 1.3 Identify AI workloads — matching a real-world scenario to the right type of AI (generative, vision, speech, language, information extraction).

Domain 2 — Implement AI solutions by using Microsoft Foundry

• 2.1 Generative AI apps and agents with Foundry
• 2.2 Text and speech solutions with Foundry
• 2.3 Computer vision and image-generation solutions
• 2.4 Information extraction solutions

The takeaway: Domain 2 is where the points are. If you only have a few study sessions, spend them getting comfortable with Foundry concepts and which Azure AI service fits which job.

How AI-901 is scored

Microsoft fundamentals exams are scored on a scale up to 1000, and the passing score is 700. That's not a flat 70% of questions — Microsoft uses scaled scoring, so harder items are weighted. Expect a mix of multiple-choice, multiple-select and matching-style questions. Fundamentals exams are short (typically under an hour); always confirm the current length, languages and fee for your region on the official Microsoft Learn exam page before you book.

Who should take it?

• Career switchers and students who want a recognized, low-pressure AI credential.
• Business and non-technical roles — PMs, analysts, sales engineers — who need fluency in AI terminology and Azure capabilities.
• Developers and admins using AI-901 as a warm-up before AI-102 or DP-100.

How to prepare (the efficient version)

1. Read the official skills outline and Microsoft Learn modules for both domains.
2. Build a mental map of workload → Azure service (covered in the services post below).
3. Drill the six responsible AI principles until you can give an example of each.
4. Practice with exam-style questions and review every explanation, not just the score.
5. Finish with a couple of timed mock exams to build pacing and confidence.

Start practicing AI-901 questions for free

Reading about the objectives gets you maybe halfway. The concepts only stick once you answer real questions, get one wrong, read why, and try again. That feedback loop is what actually moves your score on exam day.

Since AI-901 is a fundamentals exam, smart practice beats marathon reading. On ExamStudyApp you can run a free AI-901 practice session right now — no account and no credit card required. You'll see Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals questions one at a time with a full explanation after every answer, so each question doubles as a mini lesson.

When you're ready to go all in, the Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-901) practice tests give you unlimited adaptive practice plus timed, full-length mock exams that mirror the real scoring — including a per-objective breakdown so you know exactly what to review before you book the exam.

▶ Try free AI-901 practice questions →

The full AI-901 series

This post is part of our five-part AI-901 study series:

1. AI-901 Exam Guide (2026): What's New in Azure AI Fundamentals (you are here)
2. Responsible AI on AI-901: Microsoft's 6 Guiding Principles
3. Microsoft Foundry for AI-901: Generative AI Apps & Agents
4. Azure AI Services on AI-901: Vision, Speech & Document Intelligence
5. How to Study for AI-901: A 14-Day Azure AI Fundamentals Plan