What this credential is — and who it is for

Lesson 1 of 4 in The AIP Exam: Blueprint, Logistics, Strategy.

The AWS Certified Generative AI Developer – Professional validates that you can take foundation models somebody else trained and build a production business system around them: vector stores and RAG, agentic workflows, prompt governance, safety controls, cost engineering, and the testing that proves any of it works. The exam code is AIP-C01, and it sits at the Professional level — AWS's highest exam tier, where questions stop asking "which service?" and start asking "which of these four defensible architectures best fits these constraints?"

The target candidate, per the exam guide: two or more years building production-grade applications on AWS or with open-source technologies, general AI/ML or data-engineering experience, and one year of hands-on GenAI implementation. The guide also expects working fluency in AWS compute, storage, networking, security and IAM, IaC, observability, and cost optimization — the professional bar assumes the cloud fundamentals and tests what you build on top of them. The credential is valid for three years.

A young credential

  • 2025-10-14 — AWS announces the Generative AI Developer – Professional cert:

    A new Professional-level credential (AIP-C01) for building production GenAI on AWS opens in beta, announced alongside the Agentic AI Demonstrated microcredential.

  • 2026-03-17 — AIP-C01 standard exam opens — refreshed with AgentCore:

    Registration opens for the standard version, refreshed to cover Amazon Bedrock AgentCore. 75 questions (65 scored + 10 unscored), scaled 100–1,000, pass 750, 180 minutes.

  • 2026-03-31 — Last day for the AIP-C01 beta:

    The beta window closes; the refreshed standard exam carries on as the live form.

The history matters for one practical reason: the standard exam (open since mid-March 2026) was refreshed to cover Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, which the October 2025 beta barely touched. Study material written during the beta window can be silently stale on agent operations — this path teaches to the standard form.

Key terms: AIP-C01, Foundation model (FM), Amazon Bedrock, Bedrock AgentCore

Interactive checkpoint quiz (2 questions) — open this page in a browser to take it.