Google's short, focused course on prompting — how to write effective prompts to get better results from generative-AI tools. It is practical and non-technical, and short enough to finish inside Coursera's free trial. A good, quick way to level up how you use AI.
Good for: Anyone who wants to write better prompts and get more from AI tools.
Less suitable if: You already prompt confidently, or you want to build AI systems.
Realistic time: About 5 hours; often finished within a week.
About this course
Google's Prompting Essentials certificate teaches practical prompt engineering for everyday work contexts — not for AI researchers, but for professionals who use AI tools like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Copilot to draft, summarize, analyze, and brainstorm in their jobs. It covers prompt construction, zero-shot and few-shot prompting, iterative refinement, and common workplace use cases across writing, data, and analysis.
What you'll learn
Write clear, structured prompts that produce consistent, useful outputs
Apply zero-shot and few-shot prompting techniques
Iterate and refine prompts to improve output quality
Apply prompting skills across writing, analysis, and data tasks
Understand AI limitations and how to verify outputs
This course includes
5h
On-demand video
Yes
Certificate
Yes
Mobile access
English
Language
What it costs
You can audit the material free on Coursera. The certificate runs on the $49-a-month subscription, but at around 5 hours most people finish inside the 7-day free trial at no cost. Financial aid is also available.
Comparison · LBS
Compare alternatives for Google Prompting Essentials
Same topic, different options. We surface the trade-offs others hide so you can pick the course that actually fits your time, budget, and goals.
Yes for a quick, practical boost to how you prompt generative-AI tools. It is short and non-technical.
You can audit the material free; at around 5 hours, most people finish the certificate inside Coursera's 7-day free trial. Financial aid is also available.
About 5 hours — often completed within a week.
AI Essentials is a broader look at using AI at work; Prompting Essentials focuses specifically on writing effective prompts. They pair well.
No. There is no coding; it focuses on prompting techniques you can use straight away.