AI-103 · ● Beta · Associate · Microsoft
Exam facts
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost | $165 USD (80% discount available for first 300 beta testers until May 7, 2026) |
| Duration | 120 minutes |
| Questions | 40–60 (scaled scoring) |
| Passing | 700/1000 scaled score |
| Format | Multiple choice, multiple response, hotspot, yes/no, drag-and-drop, case study scenarios |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE OnVUE (online proctored) |
| Languages | English (additional languages not yet confirmed for beta) |
| Valid | 3 years from certification date |
| Renewal | Earn higher certification or retake exam |
| Prerequisites | None; Python development experience recommended |
| Released | Beta: April 2026 |
| GA Expected | June 2026 |
| Retiring | AI-102 retires June 30, 2026 (AI-103 is the direct successor) |
Vendor source — Microsoft Learn Certification ↗ Official exam guide — Study guide for Exam AI-103 ↗ Official course — AI-103T00: Develop AI apps and agents on Azure ↗
About
Exam AI-103 validates expertise in building AI applications and agentic solutions on Microsoft Azure, with emphasis on generative AI, multi-agent orchestration, and responsible AI deployment. Launched in April 2026 as beta, AI-103 replaces the retiring AI-102 (Azure AI Engineer) effective June 30, 2026, reflecting Microsoft's shift toward agentic AI frameworks and Azure AI Foundry. Target audience: software developers with Python experience building intelligent solutions using Azure OpenAI Service, Cognitive Services, and Microsoft Foundry. As of May 2026, beta testers receive 80% discount (code AI103Claxton) until May 7; general availability planned for June 2026.
Domain context — AI
Artificial Intelligence: vendor-neutral and vendor-specific generative AI, machine learning operations (MLOps), large language models (LLMs), computer vision, natural language processing, and agentic workflow architectures.
Read full deep dive — Microsoft Azure Ecosystem → (file not yet created)
Topics covered
-
Plan and Manage Azure AI Solutions (25–30% weight)
- Azure AI Foundry environment provisioning and governance
- Solution architecture using Azure OpenAI, Cognitive Services, and AI Search
- Responsible AI principles and content filtering
-
Implement Generative AI and Agentic Solutions (30–35% weight)
- Generative AI application development (prompt engineering, LLM integration)
- Multi-agent orchestration and tool integration
- RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) pipelines with Azure AI Search
- Deployment and monitoring in production environments
-
Implement Computer Vision Solutions (10–15% weight)
- Azure Computer Vision API for image analysis and classification
- Document Intelligence (OCR, form recognition, layout analysis)
- Multimodal vision-language model integration
-
Implement Text Analysis Solutions (10–15% weight)
- Azure Language service (NLP, sentiment analysis, entity recognition)
- Custom text classification and Named Entity Recognition (NER)
-
Implement Information Extraction Solutions (10–15% weight)
- Document extraction and knowledge mining
- Azure Cognitive Search for semantic retrieval
Source: Microsoft Learn Study Guide ↗
Common skills at AI · Associate
Shared competencies for the AI domain at Associate level across vendors and platforms.
- Cloud platform fundamentals (compute, storage, networking, identity/access)
- Python programming (data types, control flow, libraries: requests, asyncio, langchain)
- Prompt engineering and LLM API integration patterns
- REST API design and consumption
- Data pipeline fundamentals (ingestion, transformation, storage)
- Security, compliance, and responsible AI governance
- Monitoring, logging, and observability for cloud AI systems
- Version control and CI/CD awareness
Recommended courses at AI · Associate
| Provider | Title | Cost | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Learn | AI-103T00: Develop AI apps and agents on Azure | Free | ↗ |
| Udemy | AI-103: Azure AI App & Agent Developer Practice Exams 2026 | $13–$80 | ↗ |
| Udemy | AI-103 Microsoft Azure AI Developer Practice Tests 2026 | $13–$80 | ↗ |
| A Cloud Guru / Pluralsight | (Emerging — no dedicated AI-103 course as of May 2026) | Subscription | N/A |
Course-selection rule: The Microsoft Learn course is authoritative and free. Udemy courses provide practice exam repetition; verify course creation date matches AI-103 (not AI-102 legacy content).
Practice exams
| Provider | Title | Cost | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tutorials Dojo | AI-103 Azure AI App and Agent Developer Associate Practice Exams | $19–$49 | ↗ |
| Whizlabs | AI-103 Practice Tests (emerging; verify availability) | $20–$40 | Check Whizlabs site for AI-103 title |
| MeasureUp | AI-103 (pending availability; MeasureUp usually launches after GA) | $99–$129 | ↗ |
Practice exam timing: Beta candidates should use Tutorials Dojo; official MeasureUp typically launches after GA in June 2026. Watch for free community practice exams on Reddit/Discord as user base grows.
Books
| Title | Author | Publisher | Year | ISBN | URL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI-103 Exam Prep and Practice 2026–2027 | Gareth Thornspell Craven | Independently published | 2026 | 9798257255168 | ↗ |
| Microsoft AI-103 Exam Study Guide 2026 | Meridian Certification Press | Meridian | 2026 | 9781608887125 | ↗ |
Book rule: Both are current for AI-103 (published 2026, not legacy AI-102 content). Craven's title includes 680 practice questions and three full-length exams; Meridian offers paperback, eBook, and audiobook formats.
Typical job titles at AI · Associate
Azure AI Engineer · AI App Developer · Cognitive Services Developer · AI Solution Specialist · Generative AI Engineer (Azure focus)
(Job titles drawn from current Azure AI job postings and LinkedIn roles requiring or preferring AI-103 or AI-102 prerequisites.)
Salary
| Region | Range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| USD | $140K–$185K (base); $200K–$310K (total comp at mid-level) | Glassdoor ↗ · ZipRecruiter ↗ · Robert Half 2026 Salary Guide ↗ |
| ZAR | R450K–R850K annually (mid-career); entry-level R280K–R450K; senior R750K–R1.2M+ | PayScale ZA ↗ · School of IT ZA ↗ |
| GBP | No region-specific data available for AI-103; use Azure Cloud Engineer baseline (£60K–£95K) | IT Jobs Watch ↗ |
| EUR | No region-specific data available — use Azure cloud engineer baseline (€55K–€85K DE/FR) | Regional job boards recommended |
| AUD | No region-specific data available — use Azure cloud engineer baseline (A$85K–A$140K) | Seek ↗ recommended |
Salary rule: USD/ZAR data sourced from active job boards and surveys; other regions use closest Azure cloud role data due to AI-103 newness (beta state as of May 2026). Salaries reflect roles listing AI-103 or AI-102 as preferred/required.
Skills validated
Concrete technologies and frameworks tested by Exam AI-103.
- Azure OpenAI Service (GPT-4, GPT-3.5, embeddings)
- Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure AI Foundry
- Azure Cognitive Services (Language, Vision, Speech, Document Intelligence)
- Azure AI Search (vector search, semantic retrieval, RAG pipelines)
- Python SDK (azure-ai-, azure-search-, azure-openai)
- LangChain / Semantic Kernel integration with Azure services
- Multi-agent frameworks and tool orchestration
- Prompt engineering for generative AI
- Responsible AI and content filtering (Azure Content Safety)
- Monitoring, logging, and observability (Azure Monitor, Application Insights)
- Information Retrieval and Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture
- Document Intelligence (form recognition, layout analysis, key-value extraction)
Related certifications
- Prerequisite for: Azure AI Engineer Expert (future planning; no published successor as of May 2026)
- Stacks with: AZ-104 (Azure Administrator Associate) ↗ (build platform knowledge), AZ-305 (Azure Solutions Architect Expert) ↗ (AI solution design at scale)
- Replaces: AI-102 (Azure AI Engineer Associate, retired June 30, 2026)
- Vendor overview: Microsoft Certification Portfolio ↗ (browse for related Microsoft certs)
- Alternative at this level: Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer ↗ (file not yet created), AWS Certified Machine Learning – Associate ↗ (file not yet created)
Sources
- Microsoft Learn: AI-103 Certification ↗
- Microsoft Learn: AI-103 Study Guide ↗
- Microsoft Learn: AI-103T00 Course ↗
- Microsoft Community Hub: New Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Cert ↗
- CertEmpire: AI-102 vs AI-103 Comparison ↗
- Glassdoor: Microsoft AI Engineer Salary ↗
- ZipRecruiter: Azure AI Engineer Salary ↗
- Tutorials Dojo: AI-103 Study Guide ↗
- Amazon: AI-103 Exam Prep and Practice 2026–2027 ↗
- Amazon: Microsoft AI-103 Exam Study Guide 2026 ↗
- PayScale ZA: Microsoft Azure Salary ↗
- School of IT ZA: Azure Salary in South Africa ↗
- Robert Half: 2026 Technology Salary Trends ↗
Last verified: 2026-05-01 Parent ecosystem: Microsoft Azure Parent domain: AI (Artificial Intelligence)