Microsoft just reorganized its certification lineup into a new AI Business Solutions track and introduced four new Copilot/AI certifications. If you’re wondering what these exams actually cover, who they’re for, and which one makes sense for your role, this video will save you a ton of time.
In this discussion, I’m joined by Tiago Costa (Microsoft MVP & MCT), and we break down what’s new, what surprised us, and what to watch out for as these certifications move from beta to GA.
In this video, we cover:
✅ What changed with Microsoft’s certification structure (MB/PL/MS → AI Business Solutions)
✅ The 4 new certs: AB-900, AB-100, AB-730, AB-731 — who each one is really for
✅ AB-900: wide objective domain, what “fundamentals” actually means, and how to prep
✅ AB-100: why it’s tough, what kind of role it targets, and why you should actually study for it
✅ AB-730 vs AB-731: business user vs transformation leader, and the mindset shift required
✅ What Microsoft Applied Skills are good practice (and why they’re underrated)
If you’re planning your 2026 certification goals around Copilot and AI, this one’s for you.
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Video Summary
- Microsoft reshuffled the certification world, merging MB, PL, and MS into the new AI Business Solutions track — and introduced four fresh AI/M365 Copilot certifications that are already shaking things up.
- AB-900 (Copilot Admin Fundamentals) is fair but massive — the objective domain is so wide that even seasoned M365 pros don’t touch everything it covers daily. Great for beginners, but instructors will struggle to teach it in the “recommended” 5.5 hours.
- AB-100 (Architect) is no joke — extremely broad, pulling in M365, Power Platform, Dynamics 365, and even Foundry. Tiago called it “very challenging” and recommends serious prep before attempting it.
- The business-user certs (AB‑730 & AB‑731) surprised everyone — 730 goes much deeper than expected, requiring you to know exact steps, tab names, and agent-building workflows. And 731 flips your brain into an executive mindset — ethics, governance, responsible AI, and organizational readiness.
- Applied Skills are underrated weapons — they’re free, hands-on, and perfect warm‑ups for several certs. Both of us recommend taking the Copilot‑related Applied Skills before jumping into the business-user exams.
For more information, read the transcript blog below, or watch the video above!
Transcript
In the past few months, Microsoft has completely changed the way they organize certifications. By merging the MB, PL, and MS series into one new bucket called AI Business Solutions, we also got four new certifications related to AI and M365 Copilot.
Today, I have the pleasure of being joined by Tiago Costa—old friend, Microsoft MVP, MCT, and you probably have all the titles at Microsoft, to talk about those. Tiago, you’re super popular in the learning community, but for the few people who don’t know you, can you introduce yourself?
Yeah, sure. Basically, I work as an AI and cloud architect, and I also teach. I teach a lot in the classroom. It’s one of my big passions—being in the classroom and passing knowledge to new generations, and even current, even older generations too. The idea is always to pass new knowledge to people. And, you know, like Vlad, I like to do conferences and speaking. So that’s kind of me—focusing a lot on the AI and Azure space.
Okay, that’s amazing. And between us two, we actually took all the AB certifications. Yeah. So first of all, I want to get your opinion. So far, we have four of them. We have an architect-level one, AB‑100. AB‑100. We have a Copilot Administration Fundamentals, which is a 900‑level course. Yes. And we have, for the first time, two of them for business users. Was that on your bingo card this year—that we’re going to get business user certs?
No, definitely not. I was hoping to have some more Copilot fundamentals. I thought, “That’s definitely needed,” and I think that wasn’t a surprise when they launched that one—at least not for us in the industry. But not the architect, and definitely not the business users. That one, I was like, “Wow, that could be a good idea,” because business users can actually do a lot of push for Copilot and AI in companies and really make use of the AI tools.
It’s the key to unlocking significant productivity. It’s not just having the tools—it’s knowing how to use them and the power behind them. So I think it’s a great move. Okay. And you mentioned Copilot Fundamentals, but in a way, I see the 730—the AI Business Professional—as Copilot Fundamentals. And I know you’re yet to take that one. Yes, I have it scheduled. It’s a lot about using Copilot, of course, based on the name, and creating agents. Creating agents, yes. We’re going to have a lot of fun with that one. But let’s start with the one we both took, the AB‑900. Yes.
What did you think about that one for starters? Well, I think it was a very fair certification. We took it in beta, so—It might change by the time… Exactly. For the audience, you need to take our conversation with a grain of salt because things might change when the certification is GA—generally available. But in beta, I think it was a good, fair exam. I’m not going to lie—there were two or three questions that were a bit weird. Oh, that’s always the case. One of them, I thought, “Well, this needs some polishing,” but that’s why it’s a beta. I gave my feedback—“Hey, this should be more like this”—so the exam authors can polish things. And they do. But overall, it was a fair representation of a fundamentals certification.
For people who don’t know what a fundamentals certification is, it’s for people getting started in that technology. It’s not for people with five, six, seven, or eight years in the industry. For those people, fundamentals should be really easy. Should be, yes. Should be, at least. One thing I noticed—and I want your opinion on it—I fully agree with you that the questions matched the objective domain. But the objective domain is so wide. Yes.
I feel like in most enterprises, your average admin doesn’t touch everything from Exchange Online to SharePoint to Purview to SharePoint Advanced Management to Entra ID. There are just so many things. And again, this is a fundamentals exam. You don’t need to know how to do things—you need to know what things are and where they are. You’re not going to get “Write the PowerShell cmdlet.” Definitely not. Fundamentals are usually at the “describe” level: describe what X is, what Y is. Still, as you said, the objective domain is really wide. There’s a lot of stuff.
For example, Purview—I don’t work with Purview daily. I know what it is, I know people who do it 100% of the time. I interact with them, so for me, this certification was fine. But I guess a lot of people taking this fundamentals certification—the exact audience—they might not have experience even at a “describe” level. But I also see this as a challenge and an opportunity. It exposes them to things outside what they normally do. And since it’s “describe,” they don’t need to go deep.
Okay. You’re saying something interesting—that it motivates people to learn other things. At Ignite, I talked to someone who said something that stuck with me: “This is what Microsoft wants an M365 admin to be.” They want admins to know Purview—not configure it, but at least know it exists. So if a business user asks, “How do I protect this content?” they don’t say, “I have no idea.” Exactly. It’s knowing that those features are there. Another question: you’re probably going to teach classes on this. Very probably. Or create my own training—definitely creating my own. You also have Learn with Tiago, with great on‑demand training. Yes. We don’t usually compete—you have the Azure stuff, I have SharePoint—everybody’s happy. But I find it will be tough to balance how to teach this and still keep it in Microsoft’s recommended 5.5 hours.
You and I like to go beyond slides—we like demos. But now we have to show SC‑900, MS‑900, Copilot… it’ll be a challenge. Definitely. I haven’t started planning content yet, but it’s on the list. When I saw the objective domain, I had the same thought: “This will take 12 to 15 hours to teach properly.” But I can’t do that for a fundamentals course. I’ll need to trim things. It’ll be hard for you too—deciding what to demo or skip. Exactly. Problem for 2026: Tiago and Vlad. Exactly. Even SharePoint Advanced Management is one line—but it took me an hour and a half to present it. Exactly. Do I just explain what it is? Do I demo it? What do I choose? Problem for future us. Definitely.
Next up: the architect exam—AB‑100. Yes. This is the one I didn’t take. Looking at the objectives… Microsoft didn’t even add AB‑100 to the certification poster. They forgot. But they have the objective domain available. It’s an exam where, if you think AB‑900 is wide, AB‑100 is even bigger. That’s why I didn’t take it. To be honest with the audience, it’s been a big challenge. I work with that stuff—that’s fine—but there are touches of things I don’t do daily. Especially Dynamics. There are a lot of Dynamics integrations. And Copilot agents in Dynamics that you need to know. So I think this exam is for a very specific audience.
A lot of the things—I look and think, “I have no idea.” Like: “Design connectors for Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales.” I’m lost on two levels. You’re brave for taking it. Yeah, I took it. I have to confess—life got in the way of studying. Zero prep. I just thought, “Let me check the exam.” I still don’t know the score because it’s a beta. You only know weeks later. But I found it very, very challenging. I bet. Yes. Some questions, I thought, “Oh yeah, definitely this one.” Probably half of them. The other half—some you can figure out, but others are totally out of my knowledge because I don’t work with that stuff. So if you want to take AB‑100, my advice is: prep properly. Videos, classroom training, Microsoft Learn—read everything. At the time of recording (December 2025), there’s nothing yet.
Maybe by early 2026, they’ll release something. But prep very well. Maybe I’ll take it in the future. I’m laughing at how much they’ll need to rename. Yes. All of them. AI Foundry—Azure Foundry—now Microsoft Foundry. Dynamics 365 Copilot for Sales—that changed. Now we have Work IQ. There’s nothing about Work IQ because these certs were released before Ignite. Exactly. Agent 365 wasn’t there yet. Now it is. People will get a bunch of updates. That certification needs major updates before GA—wording, product names, and new products like Work IQ.
Final question for AB‑100: In your experience, does a role like this exist in enterprises? Someone who does Power Platform, Dynamics, Foundry—all of it? Or is this role a unicorn? Depends on the company’s maturity and the market. In North America, maturity is higher. In Europe, not so much. We’re recording this in Europe right now. I don’t see many companies here with someone who does all this. Some do—big, mature ones. But most?
No. They’ll have multiple consultants—PL‑2000s, PL‑400s, Power Platform architects. But not someone who does everything. Again, I wonder if Microsoft put this out to push the market. Yes. And I love seeing Microsoft lead, not follow. With the products and plans, this role will be needed. Companies need this. It’s good that Microsoft is pushing it.
Next up: AB‑730, AI Business Professional. You didn’t take this one yet. Not yet. I’m taking both business-user certs next week—Thursday and Friday. You’re going to laugh, but I took this at Ignite, and I found the 730 tougher than the 900. Oh really? Yes. Two reasons: AB‑900 is more of what I do daily. And I studied. This one—“easy business user”—so I thought I didn’t need to study. I should have studied. It’s not wide, but it’s deep and specific. Lots of: what tab do you click, what section, what tier supports what. Things I do on autopilot—I don’t remember the names. So I should have reviewed. So the audience gets this: even Vlad needs to study. 100% of the time. Don’t feel too confident going into exams. Even if it’s your daily job, there are things you don’t do often.
Good advice—because I wasn’t planning to study. Now I think I need to review. This one isn’t that many things. Within an hour, you could build everything hands-on. But you need to pay attention to every click—the name you type—everything. I cannot wait to make training for this one. It will be fun, but very different. Business users in a Microsoft certification class—it’s a different dynamic. Yeah. Business users come with a problem they want solved. You don’t know their company, their constraints, or their policies. It’s challenging. This exam requires: “You need to learn this. You need to remember this.” Not: “How do I solve my problem?” Exactly. But I’m excited to create content.
Now the last one—731. The AI Transformation Leader. Why do the numbers feel random? 731, not 740. It feels like the lottery. This one was very interesting. You’re probably more suited for it than I because it has both M365 Copilot and a lot of Azure. Yes, I already saw that. You need to know M365 Copilot, licensing, Foundry, Document Intelligence, Speech Services, Vision, Search—everything. And licensing differences. You’ll have no problem with that. But the part I also noticed—and I actually studied for this one—there’s a lot of adoption specialist content. And ethics. The Microsoft AI ethics framework. I do adoption in training, but I’m not usually the one saying, “First step: hire a Chief Ethics Officer.” Does it make sense for a transformation leader?
Absolutely. So I agree with the role. But for IT pros taking this exam, you must think like an executive. Learn Microsoft’s approach to ethics and responsible AI. It’s very different from the technical view. These topics are often covered in executive tracks at conferences—not tech tracks. Exactly. Executives don’t care what service does what. They have people for that. They care about governance, privacy, and ethics. High-level concerns. This certification touches fairness, responsibility—you can intentionally or accidentally introduce bias in a model. You need guardrails. This exam talks about that. It’s very good. They need to update wording—Work IQ, Agent 365, Foundry—but those are easy fixes before GA. For IT pros: review Microsoft Learn, understand how Microsoft pitches AI to executives. You need to think like an executive. Exactly.
Now, a question for you: should IT pros take this certification? Great question. Do they need to? No. Should they? I think consultants should. It forces you to understand how executives think, what their concerns are, and how to present to them. IT pros think about implementation. Executives think about governance. So it’s recommended. But I wouldn’t force it—no mandatory KPIs, no bonus requirements. But it’s a useful perspective. I agree. It’s always good to understand leadership thinking. And Microsoft may force this anyway for partner designations. Yes. So it might not be optional later. Exactly. And you’re always more valuable with certifications—especially in consulting. We covered all of them.
One final question: applied skills. Have you taken any yet? Yeah, I think I have two from Copilot, around thirty total. My goal is to have all of them. Catch them all. Yeah, kind of. Even if I don’t work with that stuff, I want to know what’s out there. It helps prove I know the basics. And pushes me to learn new things. I started my career as an IT pro on Unix and Solaris. Then I became a dev. I reinvented myself several times. I worked with cloud before cloud was cool. Now AI. It’s important to keep learning. You might find something you love.
For the Copilot applied skills I’ve done, some without prep—I struggled but passed with 100%. But I had to search for where stuff was. So read the Learn modules—spend 3–5 hours. Find content online—videos, etc. Vlad also has amazing content. I also have some content. Do you recommend applied skills as practice for certifications? Depends. Some align well, some don’t. But for some exams: absolutely yes. For example, for PL‑2000 or M365 Copilot, applied skills. Doing those first is good practice. They’re free. Not proctored. You can do them anytime. Just need internet. Exactly. You press a button, and you get a virtual machine with goals—not steps. Achieve the goals. They’re nice. If you fail, you can take them again after 72 hours. I had one crash on me, so it was marked as failed. It happens. You can take it again. I’ve failed applied skills before, too. Exams are hard even for us. Especially for new certifications when content doesn’t exist. Exactly.
Well, Tiago, thank you so much. I’m not going to say good luck—I’ll say break a leg—on the certifications next week: 731 and 730. It would be awesome to connect after and hear what you think. Hopefully, my tip to study helps. It can’t hurt. Now that you say that, I was planning not to study. I’m questioning myself. Maybe one hour of proper hands‑on and I’ll be good. One last question: if Microsoft listened to you with no questions asked, what are three certifications you want them to create in 2026? Ooh, very good. I’d love to have that power. I’d say: first, a pure dev certification—coding. Even with “vibe coding,” coding is more important than ever. Something around .NET, Python—core languages. Maybe easier to have Python now with AI.
Second: a pure dev certification for SharePoint. How to customize SharePoint—not the other stuff. I’m surprised you said SharePoint. I think it’s a miss. We used to have MS‑600—rest in peace. Rest in peace. But great for video views when they retire certs. True, but I’d rather have the certs. Third: an advanced Azure administration cert. More advanced than AZ‑104. Not an expert-level cert—but a second-level admin cert. That’s interesting. I think a collaboration admin cert—SharePoint, Teams, Planner, Stream, To Do, but not Teams Voice. Only collaboration. That would be awesome. I wonder if we’ll get an associate Copilot administrator cert—like AB‑900, but associate level. That makes sense. I think they might do that. My third: bring back PL‑100—Power Platform App Maker. The gap between PL‑900 and PL‑2000 is too big. And with agents and vibe coding, makers matter. There’s a need for that. Let’s hope. Let’s watch this video in a year and see if Microsoft listened.
Yes. We need to record this again in a few months as well. We don’t know where ESPC is next year—we’ll find out tomorrow. Wherever it is, we’ll record a follow‑up and see if we were right. But right now, the lights are closing behind us, so I think it’s time to finish the video. Tiago, thank you so much. And for everybody watching, if you want to connect with Tiago, you’ll have all his socials in the description below, as well as a link to Learn with Tiago for his awesome courses. And on the screen right now, you’ll see more certification content. Make sure you like the video, subscribe to the channel, and I’ll see you in the next one.
