AIF-C01 study guide · 2026

The 5 AIF-C01 domains, explained

5 domains and 14 official task statements. Applications of Foundation Models carries the most weight at 28%. Each guide explains what the domain covers, how its questions are framed and where candidates lose marks.

Start with Domain 3 See all domains
Questions
65 (50 scored, 15 unscored)
Time
90 minutes
Passing score
700 / 1000
Outline
AIF-C01 exam guide v1.2, October 29, 2026 (current)

Exam blueprint

Bar widths follow the official weights. Weight ranges are drawn at their midpoint.

  1. 1 20%
  2. 2 24%
  3. 3 28%
  4. 4 14%
  5. 5 14%
  1. 1 Fundamentals of AI and ML
  2. 2 Fundamentals of GenAI
  3. 3 Applications of Foundation Models
  4. 4 Guidelines for Responsible AI
  5. 5 Security, Compliance, and Governance for AI Solutions

All 5 domains

14 official task statements 52–72 hrs suggested study

  1. Domain 01 20%

    Fundamentals of AI and ML

    Domain 1 builds the vocabulary of the AWS Certified AI Practitioner exam: core AI and ML terms, learning and inference types, when ML fits a problem, the ML pipeline, MLOps and the metrics used to judge a model.

    Inside this domain

    • Explain basic AI concepts and terminologies
    • Identify practical use cases for AI
    • Describe the AI/ML development lifecycle

    Watch for Accuracy on rare events

    Task statements
    3
    Questions est.
    ~10
    Study time est.
    10–14 hrs
  2. Domain 02 24%

    Fundamentals of GenAI

    Domain 2 explains how generative AI works and what it costs: tokens, embeddings, transformers and diffusion models, the foundation model lifecycle, agentic AI and MCP, GenAI strengths and weaknesses, and the AWS services and pricing choices for building GenAI applications.

    Inside this domain

    • Explain the basic concepts of generative AI (GenAI)
    • Understand the capabilities and limitations of GenAI for solving business problems
    • Describe AWS infrastructure and technologies for building GenAI applications

    Watch for Model looks facts up

    Task statements
    3
    Questions est.
    ~12
    Study time est.
    12–16 hrs
  3. Domain 03 28%

    Applications of Foundation Models

    The heaviest AIF-C01 domain covers how foundation models are put to work: selection criteria, inference parameters, RAG and vector stores, customization costs, agents, prompt engineering, fine-tuning data and the methods and metrics used to evaluate FM applications.

    Inside this domain

    • Describe design considerations for applications that use foundation models (FMs)
    • Choose effective prompt engineering techniques
    • Describe the training and fine-tuning process for FMs
    • Describe methods to evaluate FM performance

    Watch for Fine-tune for fresh data

    Task statements
    4
    Questions est.
    ~14
    Study time est.
    16–22 hrs
  4. Domain 04 14%

    Guidelines for Responsible AI

    Domain 4 covers building AI that is fair, safe and understandable: features of responsible AI, tools such as Amazon Bedrock Guardrails, legal risks of GenAI, dataset quality, bias and variance, and the tools and design principles that make models transparent and explainable.

    Inside this domain

    • Explain the development of AI systems that are responsible
    • Recognize the importance of transparent and explainable models

    Watch for Accuracy proves fairness

    Task statements
    2
    Questions est.
    ~7
    Study time est.
    7–10 hrs
  5. Domain 05 14%

    Security, Compliance, and Governance for AI Solutions

    Domain 5 covers protecting AI systems and proving they are governed: IAM, encryption, Macie, PrivateLink, AgentCore Identity and Guardrails, data lineage, prompt injection and leakage, grounding against hallucination, and the AWS services and processes that support compliance.

    Inside this domain

    • Explain methods to secure AI systems
    • Recognize governance and compliance regulations for AI systems

    Watch for KMS finds PII

    Task statements
    2
    Questions est.
    ~7
    Study time est.
    7–10 hrs

Study the heaviest domains first

Marks follow weight. This order puts the most marks behind you first, across about 52–72 hrs of study.

  1. 3 Applications of Foundation Models 28% · 16–22 hrs
  2. 2 Fundamentals of GenAI 24% · 12–16 hrs
  3. 1 Fundamentals of AI and ML 20% · 10–14 hrs
  4. 4 Guidelines for Responsible AI 14% · 7–10 hrs
  5. 5 Security, Compliance, and Governance for AI Solutions 14% · 7–10 hrs

Try one

Practice questionDomain 3: Applications of Foundation Models

A legal firm's assistant on Amazon Bedrock gives inconsistent answers to the same contract questions, and responses sometimes stop mid-sentence. The firm wants repeatable, complete answers without retraining. Which change should the team make?

One trap from every domain

The answer that looks right, and the clue that gives it away.

  • Domain 1

    Accuracy on rare events

    Clue The scenario mentions imbalanced data or costly misses.

  • Domain 2

    Model looks facts up

    Clue The scenario reports confident but wrong answers.

  • Domain 3

    Fine-tune for fresh data

    Clue Source data changes often or answers must cite sources.

  • Domain 4

    Accuracy proves fairness

    Clue The scenario mentions complaints from one group.

  • Domain 5

    KMS finds PII

    Clue The need is to find or classify sensitive data.

Other Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning certifications

Study guides for exams that overlap with AIF-C01.

Practise what you read

AIF-C01 domains: common questions

How many domains are in the AIF-C01 exam?

AIF-C01 has 5 domains with 14 official task statements between them: Fundamentals of AI and ML, Fundamentals of GenAI, Applications of Foundation Models, Guidelines for Responsible AI and Security, Compliance, and Governance for AI Solutions.

Which AIF-C01 domain carries the most weight?

Applications of Foundation Models is the heaviest at 28%, followed by Fundamentals of GenAI (24%). The lightest is Security, Compliance, and Governance for AI Solutions (14%). Weights come from Amazon Web Services's official outline.

What is the AIF-C01 exam format?

Questions: 65 (50 scored, 15 unscored). Time allowed: 90 minutes. Passing score: 700 / 1000.

How long should I study for AIF-C01?

Our planning estimate is 52–72 hrs across all domains, split by weight. It is an editorial estimate, not an official figure, so adjust it to your experience and to how you score on practice questions.

Where should I start?

Start with Applications of Foundation Models, because it carries the most marks, then work down by weight. Use the checklist on each domain page to confirm you can do what the domain asks before moving on.

Which outline is this guide based on?

This guide follows AIF-C01 exam guide v1.2, October 29, 2026 (current), published by Amazon Web Services. It was last reviewed in October 2026.

Domain names, weights and task statements come from Amazon Web Services's official outline (AIF-C01 exam guide v1.2, October 29, 2026 (current)). Question counts and study hours are editorial planning estimates, not official figures. Last reviewed October 2026.