Directory / Microsoft

Microsoft Certified: AI Agent Builder Associate

An agent-building credential for the low-code Copilot Studio and Power Platform stack. AI-103 is the code-first counterpart.

What it signals

Practical assessment: Includes interactive, code or case-study items. Proctored, in the 120-minute category that may contain labs, with interactive items.
Identity assurance: Proctored with identity verification. Proctored, scheduled through Pearson VUE (official). Online (OnVUE) or test-centre choice is referenced in official support pages about online proctored exams and third-party guides but was not confirmed per exam. Microsoft Learn accessible during the exam.
Depth: Associate. Associate level.
Experience expected: About 1 year. Expects prior hands-on Copilot Studio and integration experience; no official year count.
Portability: Mostly vendor-specific. Agent concepts and MCP/A2A transfer but tasks are Copilot Studio specific.
Verifiability: Public badge or registry. Credential is shareable via a Microsoft Learn verification link/transcript carrying an 'Online Verifiable' tag that an employer can open (profile must be public).

For hiring managers

Agent-building credential for the low-code Copilot Studio/Power Platform stack, not for code-first agent frameworks; AI-103 is the code-first counterpart.
Covers open protocols (MCP, Agent2Agent), multi-agent design, computer-use agents, and evaluation test sets.
Accepted prerequisite for the Expert-level AB-100.

Verifying it

Candidate shares a link from their Microsoft Learn profile: either a per-credential Share link (credentials carry an 'Online Verifiable' tag) or a transcript share link / PDF. The Learn profile must be in public view for the shared credential to be verifiable. Retired credentials remain shareable and stay on the transcript.

What it covers

Published exam outline

Plan and configure agent solutions 30-35%
Integrate and extend agents in Copilot Studio 40-45%
Test and manage agents 20-25%

By topic

GenAI apps: Substantial (20 to 35%). Generative answers, custom prompts, knowledge sources/AI Search grounding and evaluation total roughly 20-30%.
Agents: Core focus (over 35%). The whole blueprint is agent design, tools, MCP, multi-agent and A2A integration.
Classical ML: Not covered. No model training.
Operations: Some (10 to 20%). Monitoring, ALM, solutions and pipelines are roughly 15%.
Data: Touched on (under 10%). Connecting enterprise knowledge sources only.
Responsible AI: Touched on (under 10%). Responsible AI strategy and security/governance planning are two bullets.

Exam details

Who the provider says it is for. 'A professional developer or advanced builder who builds, extends, and integrates custom agents for enterprise-grade solutions' - IT application developers, consultants, ISV partners. Roles: App Maker, Developer.

Format: Microsoft does not publish per-exam formats. Official question types across the programme: multiple choice, drag and drop, build list, hot area, active screen, case studies, and (on some role-based exams) labs. Exam page states: 'This exam will be proctored. You may have interactive components to complete as part of this exam.' 120 minutes matches the category that may contain labs.
Delivery: Proctored, scheduled through Pearson VUE (official). Online (OnVUE) or test-centre choice is referenced in official support pages about online proctored exams and third-party guides but was not confirmed per exam. Microsoft Learn accessible during the exam.
Code or hands-on work: Low-code platform exam: Power Fx, REST/HTTP configuration and connectors rather than general-purpose programming. Labs possible but unconfirmed.
Prerequisites: None
Recommended experience: Familiarity with Power Fx, Dataverse, Power Platform, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Foundry, adaptive cards; intermediate generative AI knowledge (models, orchestration, RAG, MCP, A2A); prompt engineering; REST APIs; experience configuring agents in Copilot Studio.
Renewal: Free, online, UNPROCTORED, open-book renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn; six-month eligibility window before expiry; unlimited attempts until expiry; each pass extends by one year. If it lapses, the full exam must be retaken.
Price notes: USD figure is from third-party sources; Microsoft prices vary by country.

Preparing

Not confirmed

These details were not available from an official source at the time of research.

priceUsd (official pages only say price depends on country; USD figure is from third-party sources)
questionCount (not published per exam)
exact question formats for this specific exam (Microsoft does not disclose)
online-vs-test-centre delivery options were not confirmed on this exam's own page
exact beta/GA dates and whether beta has formally ended
whether the live exam contains labs

Sources (10)