AI training is attracting growing interest from professionals, business owners and students looking to turn artificial intelligence into practical skills. The AI Colony Academy received more than 5,000 applications for its first live cohort, with AI Automation emerging as the most popular of its four training tracks.
The Genesis Cohort, an eight week programme from The AI Colony Academy, attracted applicants from across Africa, North America, Asia and other regions. The applicants included undergraduates, recent graduates, business owners and working professionals seeking to apply AI to their work and businesses.
Africa accounted for the largest share of applications, reflecting growing interest in how artificial intelligence can be applied across industries on the continent.
The application numbers point to an important shift in AI adoption. As tools for writing, research, image generation and workflow management become more accessible, the challenge for many users is learning how to apply them effectively to real world problems.
AI Automation Leads Interest Among Applicants
Of the four tracks available in the Genesis Cohort, AI Automation attracted the most interest. The track focuses on using AI to simplify repetitive tasks, streamline processes and improve the efficiency of everyday workflows.
“The biggest gap is between knowing about AI and knowing how to practically use it to solve real problems,” the TACA programme team said. “Many people know the tools and what they can do, but still struggle to apply AI effectively in their work, business or everyday tasks.”
The interest in automation comes as employers increasingly seek workers who can apply AI skills in practical settings. LinkedIn’s 2026 labour market research found that US job postings requiring AI literacy grew 70% year over year.
Although the figure reflects the US employment market, it highlights the growing relevance of AI literacy beyond specialist technical roles. Professionals in marketing, product management, administration and other fields may also need to understand how AI can support their work.
For businesses, the potential benefits include reducing time spent on repetitive activities, improving internal processes and freeing up resources for more strategic tasks. However, achieving those benefits requires more than access to AI tools. Users must understand which tasks are suitable for automation and how to assess the quality of the results.
Four Tracks Focus on Practical AI Skills
The AI Colony Academy designed Genesis around the application of AI to existing professional disciplines rather than teaching the technology in isolation.
The eight week programme features two live sessions each week, with participants specialising in one of four areas:
- AI for Marketing: Applying AI to research, creative development and campaign planning.
- AI for Product Management: Exploring how AI can support product development and problem solving.
- AI for Software Engineering: Integrating AI into software development workflows.
- AI for Automation: Identifying repetitive processes and developing ways to simplify or automate them.
The tracks are intended to help participants identify opportunities to use AI within their respective fields.
A marketer, for instance, could use AI to support audience research, develop creative concepts or improve campaign workflows. Someone on the automation track could examine a process that requires several manual steps and determine how AI might make it more efficient.
For Iseunife Ajayi, founder of The AI Colony Academy, the emphasis on practical application is central to the programme.
“Most AI courses teach people what AI is. We teach people how to use it to create value,” Iseunife said.
Participants Must Build Real Projects
A defining expectation of the Genesis Cohort is what the Academy calls “shipping real work”.
Rather than completing the programme with only notes and practice exercises, participants are expected to develop tangible outputs that demonstrate their ability to apply what they have learned.
“Shipping real work means participants should turn what they learn into a tangible output, not stop at theory or practice exercises,” the programme team said. “Each track should lead to a meaningful project, product or solution that demonstrates what the participant can actually do.”
By the end of the cohort, participants are expected to identify a real problem and develop an AI powered solution around it.
For a business owner, that could mean building a solution to improve an operational process. A job seeker could develop a portfolio project to demonstrate practical skills to prospective employers, while another participant might explore an idea with the potential to become a product or business.
This approach also addresses a limitation of learning individual AI tools. Products and models change rapidly, and the features available today may evolve significantly within months.
Understanding how to identify a problem, select an appropriate tool, evaluate its output and improve the result can provide a more durable skill set than relying on familiarity with a particular platform.
AI Partnerships Extend Learning Beyond the Classroom
The Academy is also working with AI product companies to give participants opportunities to explore tools used in real world applications.
One of its partners is Kickresume, an AI powered career platform providing Genesis participants with access to its product for the duration of the cohort.
The partnership gives participants an opportunity to work with an existing AI product while developing their own projects and exploring how the technology can address specific needs.
Genesis is fully funded for selected participants. Applicants undergo a review before admission, and those accepted can participate without paying tuition.
The AI Colony Academy is also recognised by The CPD Certification Service. Participants who successfully complete the programme receive a signed, verifiable credential that can be added to their professional profiles.
However, the Academy places emphasis on practical projects alongside formal recognition, positioning the work participants produce as evidence of their ability to apply AI skills.
The AI Colony Is Building an Ecosystem Around AI Skills
The Genesis Cohort forms part of a wider ecosystem being developed by The AI Colony to connect AI education with tool discovery and professional portfolios.
Its AI Library is a directory of more than 5,000 AI tools where users can discover and compare products across different categories. AI founders can also list their products on the platform.
Another component is PortfolioTab, which is being developed as a platform for professionals to showcase work created using AI, including campaigns, designs, videos and other projects.
Together, the platforms are intended to connect three stages of practical AI adoption: learning how to build, discovering the tools needed to develop solutions and showcasing the finished work.
“The Academy is meant to be a starting point, not the whole journey,” Iseunife said. “Once someone finishes a cohort, we want them discovering tools in the Library to keep building with, and showing their own work off in their portfolio. That’s the loop we’re building toward.”
The Academy says its wider community has grown to more than 30,000 people across its platforms. The more than 5,000 applications for Genesis represent demand for its first live cohort, rather than the number of people admitted or trained.
“The Genesis Cohort is the first of many,” Iseunife said. “We’re building this as a recurring programme, not a one off.”
What the Demand for AI Training Means
The popularity of AI Automation among applicants suggests that many people are looking for ways to improve existing work rather than necessarily pursuing careers as AI engineers or specialists.
For small businesses, practical AI skills could help reduce time spent on routine administrative tasks. Professionals could use the technology to support research, reporting and creative work, while aspiring founders could experiment with solutions to problems they have identified.
However, greater use of AI also makes human judgement important. Automated processes still require oversight, and AI generated outputs must be assessed for accuracy, relevance and suitability before they are used.
The ability to identify the right problem, choose an appropriate tool and determine whether its output is good enough for practical use is therefore an important part of effective AI adoption.
For The AI Colony Academy, Genesis is an attempt to bridge the gap between access to AI tools and the ability to use them to produce useful results.
The programme’s impact will ultimately depend on what participants can demonstrate after eight weeks, from more efficient workflows to projects that solve practical problems.
Those interested in future cohorts can find updates and application announcements on The AI Colony Academy website.
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