AI Skills for Education Providers
Build AI literacy alongside the technical skills your students are already developing.
Preparing Students for AI-Enabled Manufacturing Careers
Artificial intelligence is changing how manufacturers work and the skills workers need to succeed. Education providers have an important role to play in preparing students for this changing workplace by building AI literacy alongside the technical skills employers need.
As manufacturers increasingly adopt AI to improve productivity, quality, safety and decision-making, they need workers who can effectively work alongside these technologies. For education providers, helping students develop practical AI skills is an opportunity to strengthen alignment with employer needs and give graduates the skills and confidence to succeed in the manufacturing careers of tomorrow.
The Manufacturing Institute’s AI Skills for Manufacturing Training Suite gives postsecondary institutions a free, manufacturing-focused resource to help students build that foundation.
The AI Skills for Manufacturing Training Suite
The training suite gives students foundational AI knowledge they can apply to manufacturing careers — at no cost. The flexible learning journey builds from core AI concepts to more advanced manufacturing applications, complementing the technical skills students are already developing through their programs. The full suite takes up to six hours to complete and can be delivered through your LMS.
AI Fundamentals for Manufacturing
Two foundational courses — Introduction to AI for Manufacturing and Course 1: Working with AI — introduce learners to what AI is, how it is used across manufacturing and the value it brings to safety, quality and productivity. No prior AI experience required.
AI Fundamentals+ for Manufacturing
Four additional courses (Courses 2–5) build a deeper understanding of how AI systems operate in manufacturing — and explore practical ways to use AI to improve processes, solve problems and support day-to-day work.
- Free for institutions and students
- Self-paced and web-based
- Full suite: up to 6 hours
- Optional Google AI Fundamentals companion: 2–3 hours
- Works in for-credit or non-credit programs
An Opportunity for Education Providers
The AI Skills for Manufacturing Training Suite can complement existing manufacturing and technical education — whether delivered through for-credit coursework or non-credit workforce training — by giving students practical exposure to AI concepts and applications without requiring them to become AI specialists.
Education providers can use the training to:
Add foundational AI education that prepares students for evolving manufacturing careers and technologies.
Give students a skill set they can continue building throughout their careers.
Use the training as an outreach and partnership opportunity — positioning your institution as a resource for employers navigating AI adoption on the shop floor.
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completing the training, students will be better prepared to:
- Understand how AI is used across manufacturing operations.
- Recognize opportunities to improve safety, quality and productivity.
- Work effectively alongside AI-enabled technologies.
- Apply AI concepts to solve workplace challenges.
- Continue building AI skills as manufacturing technologies evolve.
Learning Objectives
These learning objectives outline the knowledge learners can build as they progress from understanding how AI is used in manufacturing to applying AI concepts in production environments.
Introduction to AI for Manufacturing: Understand AI on the Shop Floor
Part of AI Fundamentals for Manufacturing.
AI has been a part of manufacturing for decades and is playing a larger part of modern plant floor operations. You may see it in machines, dashboards, inspection systems, cameras or alerts that help spot problems earlier and find fixes faster. This simple, plain-language intro course shows learners what these tools are and how they can help on the job.
Learning objectives:
- What AI can do in a manufacturing setting.
- Where AI may show up on the shop floor.
- How to use AI tools safely at work.
- Why your experience and judgment matters even more.
Course 1: Working with AI
Part of AI Fundamentals for Manufacturing.
AI is increasingly a tool used throughout manufacturing. In this course, learners explore how AI supports safety, quality and productivity, how team members and AI work together, and how to use AI-enabled tools responsibly in a manufacturing environment.
Learning objectives:
- Explain the difference between traditional automation and AI-enabled systems.
- Describe how team members and AI systems work together in manufacturing operations.
- Recognize how AI can support safety, quality and productivity.
- Use manufacturing knowledge and experience to evaluate AI recommendations and outputs.
- Follow company procedures and protect sensitive information when using AI tools.
Course 2: How AI Makes Decisions
Part of AI Fundamentals+ for Manufacturing.
Learn how AI systems process information, identify patterns and support manufacturing operations. This course explores how AI generates insights and how team members use operational knowledge and real-world conditions to evaluate AI outputs.
Learning objectives:
- Explain how the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle can be used to evaluate and improve AI-enabled processes.
- Describe the difference between fixed-rule automation and AI systems that use information and patterns to support decisions and actions.
- Apply a structured approach to compare AI outputs with actual equipment and process conditions.
- Explain how context, production goals and operating requirements influence AI performance.
- Identify situations where AI outputs should be verified against equipment conditions, process knowledge and safety requirements.
Course 3: The Sensory Factory
Part of AI Fundamentals+ for Manufacturing.
Explore how AI-enabled systems use information from machines, sensors and cameras to understand what is happening throughout a manufacturing operation.
Learning objectives:
- Explain how AI systems collect and process information from sensors, cameras and manufacturing equipment.
- Describe how AI identifies patterns in operational data to support equipment monitoring, quality control and process improvement.
- Explain how computer vision systems inspect products and identify defects that may be difficult to detect consistently through manual inspection alone.
- Describe how multiple sources of information can be combined to improve understanding of manufacturing operations and process conditions.
- Evaluate how sensing technologies contribute to predictive maintenance, quality assurance, safety monitoring and production optimization.
Course 4: The Agentic Era
Part of AI Fundamentals+ for Manufacturing.
Learn how AI systems can perform more complex tasks, make decisions across multiple steps and support manufacturing processes.
Learning objectives:
- Explain the difference between AI tools that assist team members and AI systems that can perform multi-step tasks independently with supervision.
- Describe how natural language can be used to interact with manufacturing systems and generate technical outputs.
- Use AI-supported simulations to evaluate production scenarios and explore possible outcomes.
- Explain how AI-enabled systems use information, adapt to changing conditions and support manufacturing operations.
- Identify the importance of maintaining safety, quality and operating requirements in autonomous processes.
Course 5: The Future-Ready Team Member
Part of AI Fundamentals+ for Manufacturing.
Bring together everything learned throughout the training suite and explore how team members can continue to succeed as AI becomes more integrated into manufacturing operations.
Learning objectives:
- Explain how different AI technologies work together to support manufacturing operations.
- Describe the continuing importance of manufacturing knowledge, hands-on experience and technical skills in an AI-enabled environment.
- Assess tasks for their potential to be supported or augmented by AI-enabled systems.
- Recognize how AI can be applied across manufacturing environments with different levels of technology adoption.
- Identify opportunities to work effectively with AI tools while supporting safety, quality and productivity goals.
Start Your AI Training Journey
Ready to bring AI skills to your students? Tell us about your institution and the MI will help you get started — whether you are exploring for-credit delivery, non-credit workforce training or both.
The same short form works for every audience — tell us who you are and the MI team will follow up with everything you need to get learners started.
Sign up for updates on the AI Skills Initiative.
About the AI Skills Initiative
The Manufacturing Institute’s AI Skills Initiative is preparing current and future manufacturing workers for an AI-enabled future. Through manufacturing-focused AI education and training, the initiative aims to equip more than 40,000 workers and students with the knowledge and confidence needed to thrive in an increasingly AI-enabled manufacturing workforce.
This work is possible thanks to Google.org, whose funding and partnership support the MI’s work to develop the AI Skills Initiative.
Explore the initiative: AI Skills Training overview · For Manufacturers · For Associations
