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- Membership
- Free
— Accreditation —
AI accreditation in the UK,
earned against a real standard.
The Institute of AI is the UK’s professional body for AI. Its accreditation is the chartered-style credential the field has lacked: four levels, an evidence-based assessment, and a badge anyone can verify.
— Why it matters —
The credential AI has been missing.
Engineering has chartered engineers. Accountancy has chartered accountants. AI, until now, has had a scatter of vendor badges and self-declared titles, and no independent body to say what competent practice actually looks like. That gap is why the loudest claim so often beats the most careful practitioner.
IoAI accreditation closes it. It assesses what you can do across the AI lifecycle against a published competency framework, places you at one of four levels, and issues a badge that employers and clients can verify. It is a professional standard for people who take the work seriously, and want that seriousness on the record.
- Levels
- Four
- Assessment fee
- £29.99
- Referees
- Up to 3
- Verification
- Public
— The ladder —
One standard, four levels to climb.
Accreditation is a career spine, not a single exam. You join free, sit the assessment at the level your practice supports today, and progress upward as it grows. Scroll the timeline to see where you fit.
01
Student
For those learning the field.
Foundational understanding of how AI works and where it is applied, evidenced rather than assumed.
- Annual membership
- £49.99
- Upkeep
- 10 hours CPD a year
02
Associate
For the early-career practitioner.
Applied competence delivering AI work under guidance, with sound judgement about its limits.
- Annual membership
- £99.99
- Upkeep
- 15 hours CPD a year
03
Professional
For the independent practitioner.
Ownership of delivery end to end, sound decisions under real constraints, and accountability for outcomes.
- Annual membership
- £199.99
- Upkeep
- 25 hours CPD a year
04
Fellow
For senior leadership in the field.
Leadership, breadth, and a contribution to the practice of AI that others in the profession recognise.
- Annual membership
- £299.99
- Upkeep
- 25 hours CPD a year
A one-off assessment fee of £29.99 applies each time you sit for a level. Progression is upward only: you apply for the grade above the one you hold. Annual membership keeps your accreditation live and your badge verifiable.
— The assessment —
What accreditation actually tests.
A credential is only worth the rigour behind it. IoAI accreditation is designed so that passing means something specific: you can practise, not just recite.
Assessed against a published framework
Every level is judged against the Institute of AI competency framework, not the judgement of a single reviewer. You can read exactly what each grade expects before you apply.
Evidence, not exam cramming
The assessment probes how you frame problems, handle data, deploy responsibly, and account for decisions. It rewards demonstrated practice over memorised trivia.
Independent and vendor-neutral
IoAI has no cloud platform or model to sell, so accreditation signals judgement rather than fluency with one supplier’s stack. The credential answers to you, not a vendor.
A badge anyone can verify
Accredited members receive a public verification badge. An employer, a client or a hiring manager can confirm your grade in seconds against IoAI’s own record.
— Why the standard holds —
Independent by construction.
The Institute of AI is the UK's professional body for AI, and it is independent of any tool vendor, so no grade is shaped by a supplier relationship. The competency framework is published in full: you can read what each grade demands before you pay to be assessed against it.
That is the point of an assessed credential. The grade is judged against a public standard, held live by an annual CPD target, and verifiable by anyone who asks. It is a statement about how you practise now, not a certificate about a year you once had.
- Four
- levels of accreditation, Student to Fellow, on one published competency framework.
- Zero
- platforms, licences or cloud services sold, so the assessment answers to no supplier.
- Annual
- CPD targets by level, logged and evidenced, so the credential stays current.
- Public
- verification for every accredited grade, checkable by any employer or client.
Put your practice
on the record.
Apply at the level your practice supports today, or spend two minutes finding out where you sit before you commit to anything.
— Related pages
— Framework
The competency framework
The published standard every level is assessed against, so you know precisely what each grade demands.
Read the framework— Levels
AI engineer certification UK
How accreditation compares to another vendor badge, and why it signals practice rather than tool fluency.
Compare the routes— Organisations
Organisation AI accreditation
The organisation-side credential: five maturity levels against a five-pillar model your board can trust.
Accredit your organisation