FAST-12 Reading List: AI Practitioner Certification Prep (AWS Certified AI Practitioner, AIF-C01)
Provider: 7formations | Course: FAST-12 | Instructor: Wadood Chaudhary | Links verified by fetch or search as of Oct 2026
The exam guide is the single most important reading: AWS writes the exam from its task statements. Read it first, then use the AWS documentation pages below for the services and concepts each session covers. Exam guide version 1.2 was published October 29, 2026; AWS publishes guide updates about a month before they appear on the exam, so check the revisions page before you book.
How to use. Required readings take 20 to 45 minutes per session and are done before (or right after) the session they support. Optional readings go deeper. 'Living page' means the publisher updates it continuously; read the current version. Reading times are estimates for the parts that matter to this course, not the whole document.
Session 1: AI and ML fundamentals (Domain 1)
Required
-
AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) exam guide
Publisher: AWS Documentation | Date: Version 1.2, October 29, 2026 | Reading time: about 30 min
URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/ai-practitioner-01/ai-practitioner-01.html
Why read: The AIF-C01 exam guide: exam format, scoring, the five domains and weights, and every task statement. Mark the task statements you can't explain yet. -
In-scope AWS services (AIF-C01)
Publisher: AWS Documentation | Date: Exam guide version 1.2, October 2026 | Reading time: about 10 min
URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/ai-practitioner-01/aif-01-in-scope-services.html
Why read: The in-scope services list. In v1.2 it includes Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, Amazon Nova, Amazon Quick, Kiro, and Strands Agents; know what each is for. -
What is Machine Learning?
Publisher: Amazon Web Services | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/machine-learning/
Why read: AWS's plain-language explainer on machine learning.
Optional
-
AIF-C01 exam guide revisions
Publisher: AWS Documentation | Date: Change history through October 2026 | Reading time: about 5 min
URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/ai-practitioner-01/aif-01-revisions.html
Why read: Exam guide revision history. Check before booking. -
AWS Certified AI Practitioner
Publisher: Amazon Web Services Training and Certification | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 5 min
URL: https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-ai-practitioner/
Why read: The certification page: price, languages, scheduling, and official prep resources. -
Classification: Accuracy, recall, precision, and related metrics (Machine Learning Crash Course)
Publisher: Google for Developers | Date: Living course page | Reading time: about 20 min
URL: https://developers.google.com/machine-learning/crash-course/classification/accuracy-precision-recall
Why read: Google's Machine Learning Crash Course on accuracy, precision, and recall. Clear worked examples for the confusion-matrix questions.
Session 2: Generative AI fundamentals (Domain 2)
Required
- What is Generative AI?
Publisher: Amazon Web Services | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/generative-ai/
Why read: AWS's explainer on generative AI: foundation models, transformers, and use cases.
Optional
-
Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework: Generative Artificial Intelligence Profile, NIST AI 600-1
Publisher: NIST | Date: July 2024 | Reading time: about 20 min
URL: https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ai/NIST.AI.600-1.pdf
Why read: NIST Generative AI Profile: a vendor-neutral list of generative-AI risks, useful context for Domains 2 and 4. -
Why language models hallucinate
Publisher: OpenAI | Date: September 5, 2025 | Reading time: about 10 min
URL: https://openai.com/index/why-language-models-hallucinate/
Why read: Why language models hallucinate, from a model developer's perspective.
Session 3: Applications of foundation models (Domain 3)
Required
-
Retrieve data and generate AI responses with Amazon Bedrock Knowledge Bases
Publisher: AWS Documentation | Date: Current documentation | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock/latest/userguide/knowledge-base.html
Why read: Amazon Bedrock Knowledge Bases: how managed RAG works on AWS. -
Evaluate the performance of Amazon Bedrock resources
Publisher: AWS Documentation | Date: Current documentation | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock/latest/userguide/evaluation.html
Why read: Amazon Bedrock Evaluations: automatic, LLM-as-a-judge, and human evaluation of models and knowledge bases.
Optional
-
Prompt engineering overview
Publisher: Anthropic (Claude Docs) | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/prompt-engineering/overview
Why read: A vendor-neutral prompt engineering overview: clear instructions, examples, structure. -
Building effective agents
Publisher: Anthropic (Engineering) | Date: December 19, 2024 (with 2026 note) | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/building-effective-agents
Why read: A practical explainer on agents and workflows, for the 'agents in concept' topic.
Session 4: Responsible AI, security, and governance (Domains 4 and 5)
Required
-
Responsible AI: Building AI responsibly
Publisher: Amazon Web Services | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 10 min
URL: https://aws.amazon.com/ai/responsible-ai/
Why read: AWS's responsible-AI dimensions: fairness, explainability, privacy and security, safety, controllability, veracity and robustness, governance, transparency. -
Detect and filter harmful content by using Amazon Bedrock Guardrails
Publisher: AWS Documentation | Date: Current documentation | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock/latest/userguide/guardrails.html
Why read: Amazon Bedrock Guardrails: content filters, denied topics, sensitive-information filters, contextual grounding, and Automated Reasoning checks. -
Shared Responsibility Model
Publisher: Amazon Web Services | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 10 min
URL: https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/shared-responsibility-model/
Why read: The shared responsibility model: security of the cloud vs. security in the cloud.
Optional
-
Amazon SageMaker Model Cards
Publisher: AWS Documentation | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 10 min
URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sagemaker/latest/dg/model-cards.html
Why read: SageMaker Model Cards for documenting models. -
Clarify availability change (SageMaker Clarify closed to new customers)
Publisher: AWS Documentation | Date: 2026 | Reading time: about 8 min
URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sagemaker/latest/dg/clarify-availability-change.html
Why read: Note that SageMaker Clarify closed to new customers in 2026; the page lists AWS's recommended replacements for bias metrics and explainability. Older study guides still mention Clarify. -
OWASP GenAI LLM Top 10 2026
Publisher: OWASP Gen AI Security Project | Date: Published August 4, 2026 | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://genai.owasp.org/resource/owasp-genai-llm-top-10-2026/
Why read: OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications 2026: prompt injection, sensitive information disclosure, excessive agency, and more. -
ISO/IEC 42001:2023 Information technology: Artificial intelligence: Management system
Publisher: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) | Date: December 2023 | Reading time: about 5 min
URL: https://www.iso.org/standard/42001
Why read: ISO/IEC 42001, the AI management-system standard that appears in governance discussions.
Session 5: Exam readiness
Required
-
AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) exam guide
Publisher: AWS Documentation | Date: Version 1.2, October 29, 2026 | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/ai-practitioner-01/ai-practitioner-01.html
Why read: Re-read the task statements for your weakest domain before your second practice exam. -
In-scope AWS services (AIF-C01)
Publisher: AWS Documentation | Date: Exam guide version 1.2, October 2026 | Reading time: about 5 min
URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/ai-practitioner-01/aif-01-in-scope-services.html
Why read: Quick check of the in-scope services list the week of the exam.
Link verification
Links verified by fetch or search as of Oct 2026. Links that could not be confirmed were dropped and are not listed. The instructor re-checks links before each cohort.