Explore generative AI’s creative potential and ethical design practices in this online certificate for artists, designers, and innovators.
Program Start: Fall
How to Enroll: Register for a class
Program Length: 8 months (part-time)
Location: 100% Online, Asynchronous
Total Cost: $1,900
Certificate Awarded: Creative AI: Responsible Innovation with Generative Tools
Unlock your creative potential by working with powerful new generative AI tools. Offered in partnership with CalArts, this online certificate designed for creatives, offering an immersive journey into using artificial intelligence to create compelling text, visuals, audio, and interactive experiences.
Costs & Enrollment
Course Length: 5-6 weeks each
Cost per Class: $475
Total program cost: $1,900
Application: No application required
Program Start: Fall
Choose “Workshop and Enroll in Certificate Program” when you register for any Fall or Spring class to enroll in the certificate program.
Overview
Designed for artists, designers, developers, educators, and anyone curious about generating content with AI, the courses guide you from the foundations through complex ethical and technical considerations.
Through hands-on projects in Google Colab, p5.js, and Teachable Machine, you’ll experiment with AI-driven creativity, critically evaluate its societal impacts, and explore innovative ways of integrating AI into human-centered design practices. By engaging deeply with ethical questions about authenticity, bias, and digital identities, you’ll gain practical insights and skills essential for roles in creative coding, UX design, AI ethics auditing, and digital storytelling.
This certificate is offered in partnership with CalArts.
The certificate consists of four sequential courses (5–6 weeks each). Taking each course in order is recommended, but not required:
- Getting Creative With AI
Experiment with Colab, p5.js, and Teachable Machine to explore AI-generated text, visuals, and sound. - Creating With Generative AI: Power and Problems
Explore AI’s historical and contemporary contexts while critically examining bias, authenticity, and equity. - Co-Creating With AI: Ethical Tools for Design Innovation
Apply design thinking to prototype user-centered AI projects. Focus on hybrid creativity and ethical innovation. - Developing and Detecting Synthetic Identities With Generative AI
Learn how to analyze, detect, and critique synthetic media while exploring its role in digital storytelling and social trust.
This certificate supports professionals already working in design, education, or technology who want to deepen their understanding of AI and apply it thoughtfully in their fields.
The program balances hands-on skill building with critical inquiry, giving students the tools to design user-centered projects and to question the cultural impact of emerging technologies. Graduates leave with the confidence to integrate AI into their practice while keeping ethical responsibility at the forefront.
Possible career pathways include roles such as creative coder, digital storyteller, UX designer, AI product designer, ethics consultant, or media artist.
Developed in partnership with CalArts, the program connects students to a vibrant community of artists and technologists who are shaping how AI is used in the creative economy. Graduates join a growing network of innovators ready to lead conversations about authorship, authenticity, and the future of creative work.
Students who complete this certificate will be able to:
- Understand foundational generative AI concepts and tools
- Create text, visuals, and audio using Colab, p5.js, and Teachable Machine
- Recognize and critically address ethical implications in generative AI
- Analyze historical and contemporary contexts of generative AI
- Identify synthetic media and audit generative AI systems for biases
- Produce hybrid generative art and articulate ethical positions on AI
- Apply design thinking to generative AI projects effectively
- Prototype ethical, user-centered designs with AI tools
- Navigate issues of authorship, equity, and collaborative practice in AI-driven projects
- Detect and analyze synthetic identities and AI-generated content
- Critically address ethical implications surrounding synthetic identities
- Develop hybrid AI-human projects and advocate for ethical AI practices
No. You pay “as you go”— when you register for a course, you’ll pay for that class.
This program is not eligible for financial aid.
Students must complete all four asynchronous, remote courses. Courses are 5 to 6 weeks in duration and can be completed in as little as 8 months or within up to 3 years for students who wish to move at a slower pace.
Computer Access: A laptop or desktop computer with a stable internet connection. Most course tools run in a web browser (p5.js, Google Colab, Runway ML, ComfyUI). No prior programming experience is required.
Accounts and Storage: A free Google account (for Colab and Drive storage).
Optional: Hugging Face and Runway ML accounts for hosted models.
Camera / Capture Tools: A smartphone, webcam, or DSLR for collecting images or short video clips.
Editing Software: Any basic video editor will work for assembling final projects. Adobe Premiere Pro is demonstrated in course videos, but you may use DaVinci Resolve, iMovie, or any comparable program.
Lighting (optional): Use whatever you have available—lamps, flashlights, or window light. No specialized studio lighting is required.
Optional Hardware: Drawing tablet or stylus (for sketch input), external drive or cloud storage for saving large files.
*Any students that have hardware or access limitations should communicate with the instructor early—alternative workflows can always be arranged.
Students currently enrolled in MassArt courses gain access to the Adobe Creative Suite at no additional cost.
All courses are online and asynchronous, there are no set class times. Students have access to recorded content and may complete the course work at their own pace with set deadlines. The instructor is available to answer questions and provide individualized feedback on assignments.
Students should expect to spend 3 to 6 hours per week on the course.
For questions about registration and enrollment, students can contact: ce@massart.edu.
For additional questions regarding the Creative AI program or course curriculums, students can contact: extendedstudies@calarts.edu.
