Agenticum · Thoughts · 6 min read

Which MIT Artificial Intelligence Class Should You Take? Free and Paid Options Compared

This guide compares four routes to studying AI through MIT, including three paid programs delivered with external education providers. For each one it covers the cost in USD, AED and SAR, how long it takes, what credential you get and where you sign up.

Nikolay Zuykov · Agenticum · 3 November 2026

What “MIT artificial intelligence class” can mean in 2026

MIT offers its AI material to outside learners through several separate units. On each paid option you sign up through an outside education company, not directly with MIT.

This guide compares four routes. All details come from the official course pages listed under Sources:

Open: MIT OpenCourseWare and the open MIT Intro to Deep Learning lectures
MIT Sloan Executive Education, with enrolment through GetSmarter
MIT Professional Education, delivered with Great Learning
MIT xPRO, delivered with Emeritus

The open route: MIT OpenCourseWare 6.034 and MIT 6.S191

MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a free, open collection of material from thousands of MIT courses. You don't enrol or create an account, and courses have no start or end dates, so you work at your own pace.

The OCW AI course covered here is 6.034 Artificial Intelligence. It is an undergraduate course taught by Patrick Henry Winston and recorded in Fall 2010. It covers the basic knowledge representation, problem solving and learning methods of AI. The course page has lecture videos, problem-solving videos, programming assignments, exams and instructor insights.

OCW does not award credit or certificates.

For deep learning, MIT's Intro to Deep Learning (6.S191) is taught in person at MIT and released openly online. The 2026 in-person edition ran on 5 to 9 January 2026. From 30 March 2026 the online lectures came out weekly.

Option 1: MIT Sloan + CSAIL, AI: Implications for Business Strategy (via GetSmarter)

The MIT Sloan School of Management and the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) run this online program together. It is for people who make strategic decisions: aspiring managers, current managers and senior executives. You need no technical background, because the course looks at what AI means for organisations and managers.

It has six modules. The first introduces AI. The next three cover machine learning, generative AI and robotics in business. The last two cover AI in business and society, and the future of AI. A key part of the course is an individual project: developing a plan for using AI in your own organisation.

Format: self-paced online, 6 weeks, 6 to 8 hours a week
Fee: USD 3,850 (about AED 14,139 / SAR 14,438)
Credential: a certificate of completion from MIT Sloan and 2.0 Executive Education Units (EEUs). The course may also count toward an MIT Sloan Executive Certificate.
Next offering: 18 November 2026 to 2 February 2027. Later offerings start on 13 January, 3 March, 14 April, 26 May, 7 July, 25 August, 6 October and 17 November 2027.
Who you pay: you enrol on the GetSmarter website and pay GetSmarter directly, not MIT

Option 2: MIT Professional Education, No Code and Agentic AI (via Great Learning)

MIT Professional Education (MIT PE) now calls this program No Code and Agentic AI. It teaches you to build AI solutions from data without writing any code. MIT faculty lead it, and it mixes recorded lectures, real-life case studies, hands-on projects, quizzes, mentor-led sessions and webinars. The lead instructors are Munther Dahleh, Stefanie Jegelka, Devavrat Shah, John Tsitsiklis and Caroline Uhler.

Week 2 covers LLMs and prompt engineering. The curriculum also covers prediction methods and recommendation systems. Week 12 covers single-agent systems, and week 13 covers autonomous systems built from multiple agents.

Format: online and mentored, 14 weeks
Fee: USD 2,850 (about AED 10,467 / SAR 10,688)
Credential: a certificate of completion from MIT Professional Education and 10 CEUs
Current cohort: 14 November 2026 to 21 March 2027. Registration closes on 14 November 2026.
Who you pay: Great Learning handles enrolment, all payments and invoicing, the technology and participant support

Option 3: MIT xPRO, AI Strategy and Leadership Program (via Emeritus)

The full title is AI Strategy and Leadership Program: Driving Data and Organizational Transformation. It runs online for 12 weeks and is aimed at leaders and professionals who set strategy and guide AI adoption in their organisation.

Format: online, 12 weeks, 5 to 7 hours a week
Fee: USD 7,850 (about AED 28,829 / SAR 29,438)
Credential: a Professional Certificate and CEUs from MIT xPRO
Start dates: 5 November 2026, 14 January 2027, 11 March 2027, 6 May 2027 and 23 June 2027
Where you apply: MIT xPRO delivers the program with Emeritus, which handles applications

For a shorter, lower-cost option, the MIT xPRO catalog lists a 90-minute live workshop with MIT Sloan faculty. It is called A New Imperative for AI Governance and Ethics: Winning the AI Race Without Losing Control. It costs USD 250 (about AED 918 / SAR 938), and the next session is on 1 December 2026.

Side-by-side comparison: price in USD, AED and SAR, weeks, hours, credential, provider

Option	MIT unit	Sign up through	Format	Length	Hours/week	Fee USD	AED	SAR	Credential	Next start
6.034 Artificial Intelligence	MIT OpenCourseWare	No sign-up, open online	Self-paced, no enrolment	No fixed length	Your pace	0	0	0	None from OCW	Any time
AI: Implications for Business Strategy	MIT Sloan Executive Education + CSAIL	GetSmarter	Self-paced online	6 weeks	6 to 8	3,850	14,139	14,438	MIT Sloan certificate of completion, 2.0 EEUs	18 Nov 2026
No Code and Agentic AI	MIT Professional Education	Great Learning	Online, mentored, blended	14 weeks	Check course page	2,850	10,467	10,688	MIT PE certificate of completion, 10 CEUs	14 Nov 2026
AI Strategy and Leadership Program	MIT xPRO	Emeritus	Online	12 weeks	5 to 7	7,850	28,829	29,438	Professional Certificate and CEUs	5 Nov 2026

Fees are the USD list prices on the official course pages. The AED and SAR figures use the fixed exchange rates against the US dollar and are rounded for comparison. Confirm the billing currency and final amount with the provider before you pay.

How to choose (individual vs. team, coder vs. non-coder, leader vs. builder)

Not sure yet, or you want technical depth? Start with the open route. Watch some 6.034 lectures on OCW, which is free, or the openly released 6.S191 series. OCW does not award credit or certificates.
Are you a manager or executive deciding how your organisation should use AI? Take the MIT Sloan course. At 6 weeks it is the shortest of the three paid programs, it needs no technical background, and its project has you develop a plan for using AI in your own organisation.
Want to build AI solutions yourself without learning to code? Take MIT PE's No Code and Agentic AI. It has hands-on projects and mentor-led sessions, and at USD 2,850 it has the lowest fee of the three paid programs. At 14 weeks it is also the longest. Registration for the current cohort closes on 14 November 2026.
Are you leading AI adoption and able to commit 5 to 7 hours a week for 12 weeks? Consider MIT xPRO's program, the most expensive of the three. The next listed start date is 5 November 2026, followed by 14 January 2027.

For a team, decide role by role: managers could take the Sloan course and builders the MIT PE program. A different company handles each program, so a mixed team means signing up separately with GetSmarter, Great Learning or Emeritus.

Dates and fees change. On the day you enrol, check the official MIT page for your option, and sign up only through the company that page names.