Credential standard
What the AIMP credential attests.
The Artificial Intelligence Management Professional (AIMP) certification is awarded by The Institute of Artificial Intelligence Management to people who complete the program of study, have their capstone plan approved against the published rubric and pass the timed final exam. This page states the standard in full. Program content last reviewed October 15, 2026.
- Competencies
- Twelve
- Final exam
- 50 questions, 90 minutes
- Pass mark
- 80 percent
- Capstone
- Six-criterion rubric
- Validity
- One year, renewable
1. Scope
Twelve competencies, one per module.
An AIMP holder has demonstrated, through module quizzes, a capstone plan and the final exam, that they can:
- Stand up AI managementBuild and tier an AI inventory, publish an AI use policy and set up an AI Management Office sized to your organization.
- Understand the technologyExplain how modern AI systems work, where they fail and what they cost, well enough to make and defend decisions.
- Build the portfolio and the caseScore use cases with baselines, capture mechanisms and kill criteria, and write a business case finance will sign.
- Govern AI agentsDesign agent workflows with the right level of autonomy, least privilege, approval gates and audit logs.
- Apply the frameworksUse the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and ISO/IEC 42001, and decide whether and when to certify.
- Meet the lawMap the EU AI Act, US federal and state law, privacy law and sector rules to your systems and run a compliance rhythm.
- Control riskRun risk assessments, fairness testing, red teaming, monitoring and incident response.
- Protect data and systemsGovern data for AI, apply GDPR and the California rules, and recognize the OWASP Top 10 risks for LLM and agentic applications.
- Choose and contractSelect models, platforms and vendors on your own evidence, and negotiate the contract, the total cost and the exit.
- Implement and adoptTake a use case from pilot to production, lead workforce adoption and operate AI with a runbook.
- Measure and prove valueMeasure AI with a four-layer metrics stack, run credible experiments, compute ROI with ranges and brief a board.
- Lead the changeClose the trust gap, communicate honestly about jobs and write a twelve-month AI leadership plan.
2. Eligibility
Open enrollment
There are no prerequisites. The program is written for executives, managers, product and operations leaders, policy and compliance professionals, consultants and technical leads. No programming is required and none is taught. The program is delivered in English, online, for a one-time fee of $695; need-based financial assistance is available.
3. Requirements
Three things, in order
- Complete the twelve modules
Thirty-six topics and twelve module quizzes of six questions each; 5 of 6 correct to pass a quiz, unlimited retakes, every answer explained.
- Have the capstone approved
An AI Implementation Plan for your own organization, scored against the six-criterion rubric below.
- Pass the final exam
50 questions, 90 minutes, 80% to pass, up to 3 attempts.
4. Exam blueprint
Fifty questions drawn from a bank of two hundred.
Each attempt serves 50 questions chosen at random from the bank, in random order. The table shows how the bank is divided; a single attempt follows these shares on average, not exactly. Questions are single-answer or multiple-answer choice. The exam is taken online in the student's own account, is timed at 90 minutes, and may be attempted 3 times; each attempt is a fresh draw and the results page shows which areas to review.
| Module | Questions in the bank | Share of the bank |
|---|---|---|
| Orientation How the AIMP program works (Module 0, free to read) | 2 | 1.0% |
| Module 1 The AI Management Mandate | 15 | 7.5% |
| Module 2 How Modern AI Works, for Managers | 16 | 8.0% |
| Module 3 AI Strategy and Value | 15 | 7.5% |
| Module 4 Agentic AI and Automation | 15 | 7.5% |
| Module 5 Governance Frameworks: NIST AI RMF and ISO/IEC 42001 | 15 | 7.5% |
| Module 6 Law and Regulation | 17 | 8.5% |
| Module 7 Risk, Safety and Responsible AI | 16 | 8.0% |
| Module 8 Data, Privacy and Security | 20 | 10.0% |
| Module 9 Vendor, Model and Platform Selection | 17 | 8.5% |
| Module 10 Implementation and Change Management | 17 | 8.5% |
| Module 11 Measuring Performance and ROI | 17 | 8.5% |
| Module 12 Leading AI Transformation | 17 | 8.5% |
| Capstone Your AI Implementation Plan | 1 | 0.5% |
| Total | 200 | 100.0% |
Orientation questions cover the program's rules and its standard of evidence; the capstone question covers what a plan must contain. Pass mark: 80% (40 of 50). The certificate is issued the moment the pass mark is reached.
5. Capstone assessment
Six criteria, four levels, a published pass mark.
The capstone is an AI Implementation Plan for the student's own organization (or a composite), written with the toolkit and submitted as a document of 3,000 to 5,000 words with twelve required sections. It is scored 1 to 4 on each criterion. Pass: 18 of 24 with no criterion below 2. Capstones are evaluated with AI assistance against this rubric and reviewed by a person; scores in the band 17 to 19, and any plan the evaluation is unsure about, are decided by a reviewer.
Strategic clarity and value logic
Level 4: Three scored cases with measured baselines; the lighthouse has a precise capture mechanism, kill criteria and a credible value range.
Governance and accountability
Level 4: Named roles, a RACI, a policy stack and a cadence sized to the organization, mapped to NIST and ISO/IEC 42001 with gaps identified.
Risk, legal and responsible-AI rigor
Level 4: Complete risk worksheet with impacts on people, specific controls, a signed residual-risk decision and a correct legal map with notices and dates.
Technical and vendor soundness
Level 4: Deployment pattern and model choice justified on measured evaluation; data path and OWASP review done; scorecard, contract terms and exit plan specific.
Implementation realism and change
Level 4: Five stages with gates, a dated timeline, readiness checklist, runbook outline and an adoption program grounded in the evidence on who gains and who needs support.
Measurement and evidence
Level 4: Four-layer stack with owners, cadences and baselines; a credible experiment design; ROI with ranges and full costs; sources cited for every external claim.
The full rubric: all four levels for each criterion
| Criterion | 4 Exemplary | 3 Proficient | 2 Developing | 1 Beginning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Strategic clarity and value logic | Three scored cases with measured baselines; the lighthouse has a precise capture mechanism, kill criteria and a credible value range. | Cases scored and a baseline stated; capture mechanism present but partly qualitative. | Use cases listed; baseline or capture mechanism missing. | Aspirations without cases or numbers. |
| 2. Governance and accountability | Named roles, a RACI, a policy stack and a cadence sized to the organization, mapped to NIST and ISO/IEC 42001 with gaps identified. | Roles and policy defined; mapping present but thin. | Roles named; no decision rights or cadence. | Governance not addressed or purely aspirational. |
| 3. Risk, legal and responsible-AI rigor | Complete risk worksheet with impacts on people, specific controls, a signed residual-risk decision and a correct legal map with notices and dates. | Risk assessment and legal map present; controls or dates partly generic. | Risks listed without controls or decision; legal map incomplete. | Risk and law not addressed. |
| 4. Technical and vendor soundness | Deployment pattern and model choice justified on measured evaluation; data path and OWASP review done; scorecard, contract terms and exit plan specific. | Choices justified; some evidence; contract and exit terms listed. | Choices asserted without evaluation; data path or security incomplete. | Technology treated as a given. |
| 5. Implementation realism and change | Five stages with gates, a dated timeline, readiness checklist, runbook outline and an adoption program grounded in the evidence on who gains and who needs support. | Roadmap and adoption program present; some gates or dates missing. | A timeline without gates; adoption treated as training only. | No implementation plan. |
| 6. Measurement and evidence | Four-layer stack with owners, cadences and baselines; a credible experiment design; ROI with ranges and full costs; sources cited for every external claim. | Stack and ROI present; experiment or ranges partly defined. | Metrics listed without baselines; ROI as a single number. | No measurement plan; claims without sources. |
Writing quality is not a separate criterion, but a plan a sponsor could not act on will not score above 2 on any criterion it affects. The same rubric is in the toolkit's Capstone Template.
Written feedback is sent six days after submission and is prepared with AI assistance; one resubmission is included. Every submission carries an honor statement and an AI-use disclosure, and every grade, score and feedback note is stored with the submission.
6. Certificate, verification and designation
Issued at once. Checkable by anyone.
- The certificate carries the holder's name, the completion date, a unique Certificate ID and a QR code, and is signed by the Institute's two Managing Directors.
- The verification page at iaim.ai/certificate-verification shows the holder, the credential, the issue and expiry dates and the current status: Active (more than 90 days to expiry), Expiring (90 days or fewer) or Expired.
- The AIMP badge is a digital badge for LinkedIn and email signatures, linked to the verification page and carrying the same validity.
- The designation. Holders use AIMP after their name while the certification is current; employers can confirm it in seconds.
- The directory. Holders of a current certification on the AIMP Certified tier may list themselves in the AIMP directory, which opens once the first holders have opted in; expired certifications leave the directory automatically.
7. Validity, renewal and lapse
- Valid for one year
Your AIMP certification holds its validity for a year from the day you achieve it. Its verification page shows the current status: active, expiring or expired.
- Renew any time, early or on time
You can renew whenever you like once you hold AIMP. Renewing early adds a year to your current expiry date, so no time is lost, and we email you reminders from 90 days before it expires.
- An updated course and a 50-question exam
The renewal course covers the year's developments in AI management, followed by a final exam of 50 questions.
- $149 a year, or included
Renewal is $149 a year. Holders on the AIMP Certified tier ($229 a year, with every member benefit and a Directory listing) renew at no extra cost. Graduates certified before the current prices renew at $99 for their next cycle.
- If it expires
If the renewal course is not completed before your expiry date, the certification expires and its verification page says so. You can still renew at the same price for up to 12 months after the expiry date, and the new year runs from the day you complete the renewal course. After 12 months the certification can no longer be renewed: to hold AIMP again, you complete the full program.
8. Currency of the program
Dated and sourced
Every module lists its sources and shows the date it was last reviewed (currently October 15, 2026). Legal and regulatory content is educational and is marked as such; it is not legal advice. The program is maintained by the Institute, which issues the credential.
9. Questions about a result
A person answers
Questions about a capstone score or an exam result go to programmanager@iaim.ai. Every request is read and answered by a person at the Institute; the stored grade record is the basis of the review.
Standard version 2026.1. Applies to certifications issued under the 2026 program; certifications issued under the 2023 program keep their original terms and verify on the same page.
Next step
Hold yourself to the standard.
Enroll in the AIMP certification: $695, 100% online, self-paced, with a verifiable certificate when you pass the final exam.
Questions? support@iaim.ai, 9:00am to 5:00pm Pacific, Monday to Friday.