Canadian government launches free AI literacy courses for teachers, students and workers
The federal government announced three no-cost AI courses as part of a National AI Literacy Initiative funded with $13 million. Teacher and post-secondary student courses launch September 21.
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The Canadian government announced a National AI Literacy Initiative offering three free online courses designed to build foundational artificial intelligence knowledge across different audiences.
The initiative provides no-cost training for K-12 educators, post-secondary students, and all Canadians. The government invested $13 million to launch the courses, developed in partnership with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute.
The teacher course will "provide K-12 educators with practical training and classroom-ready resources, with five additional chapters to be released throughout the fall." The post-secondary student course is designed to help participants understand the technology and "use it confidently and responsibly while building foundational AI knowledge and workplace readiness skills." That course is designed to take about three hours to complete.
The teacher and post-secondary courses become available September 21. Both are self-paced, with participants working through modules at their own speed and no instructor leading the sessions.
A third course, dubbed Essentials for Canadians, will be available through Employment and Social Development Canada's national Training Finder in its Job Bank, and also through community partners yet to be announced. The government has not announced when this course becomes available.
Which community partners will distribute the Essentials for Canadians course?
When will the Essentials for Canadians course launch, and how many participants does the government expect to reach?
We'll update this story as answers emerge.
By the numbers
How much did the Canadian government invest in the National AI Literacy Initiative?
$13 million funded the National AI Literacy Initiative to develop and launch three free online AI courses.
When do the teacher and post-secondary student AI courses launch?
Both the teacher course and post-secondary student course become available on September 21, 2026.
How long does the post-secondary student AI course take to complete?
The post-secondary student course is designed to take about three hours to complete.
