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I cognize you've heard of gamification, but person you ever heard of festification? That's what Microsoft volition beryllium doing successful April and May, with the Microsoft AI Skills Fest. It's a small odd, but it besides looks similar it mightiness beryllium a heck of a batch of fun.
I've written a batch astir Microsoft implicit the years. I've praised its innovations. I've mocked its merchandise naming. But this is simply a caller one, adjacent for me. Apparently, Microsoft (or immoderate radical of wacky selling executives successful the company) wants to acceptable a caller satellite record.
Going for a Guinness World Record
Microsoft is superior astir this, too. It progressive the existent Guinness World Records enactment successful its plans.
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As it turns out, you tin get a satellite grounds for astir anything. Sure, you tin get a satellite grounds for the most spoons balanced connected a body, the fastest 100-meter sprint connected each fours, being the world's tallest man, and having the astir apples held successful your ain rima and chopped by a chainsaw. That past 1 was by Wang Lei successful Dezhou China, backmost successful 2020 (hey, we each needed thing to support america engaged during lockdowns).
But Microsoft is trying for a satellite grounds successful (and I curse I did not marque this up) "the astir users to implicit an online multi-level artificial quality acquisition successful 24 hours."
Apparently, this has already been a thing. Last year, 46,045 online participants, moving nether the auspices of GUVI Geek Network Private Limited successful collaboration with the Government of Uttar Pradesh, India, completed a 31-minute lesson, followed by 15 multiple-choice questions to ascertain learning quality. The event, portion of the South Asian Women successful Tech lawsuit series, earned the enactment an authoritative Guinness World Record.
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This isn't adjacent the lone online learning-related grounds oregon lone grounds by a large corporation:
- Most users to instrumentality an online fiscal literacy acquisition successful 24 hours: awarded to Capital One with 1,812 participants successful 2024.
- Largest machine programming lesson: achieved by Magma Talent Studio and Instituto Superior Técnico - Universidade de Lisboa successful Portugal with 1,668 radical successful 2024.
- Most users to instrumentality an online maturation hacking selling acquisition successful 24 hours (you earnestly can't marque this worldly up): Awarded to Raikk Chan Kok Woei (Malaysia) successful Hong Kong, successful 2023.
Free AI grooming for everyone
Microsoft's effort to triumph bragging rights benefits you and maine due to the fact that we get immoderate escaped AI grooming retired of the deal. The multi-level quest involves sequential stages, ranging from an instauration to AI, halfway concepts similar instrumentality learning, machine vision, and earthy connection processing, to applicable tools (Azure and Copilot, 'natch), and gathering immoderate apps connected your own.
The thought is that the courses are unfastened for each accomplishment levels. You tin larn aboriginal stages of the lessons if you're caller to AI, oregon enactment connected deeper topics if you're much acquainted with AI concepts. Although determination are tiers of learning, it's packaged arsenic a azygous experience. You tin enactment done immoderate oregon each of the lessons arsenic portion of 1 unified course.
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Lessons are disposable successful Albanian, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Global, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Macedonian, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Simplified Chinese, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
Sadly, conversational Klingon is not connected offer.
The main event, the satellite grounds attempt, runs from April 7 astatine 23:00 UTC to April 8 astatine 23:00 UTC. But there's a batch more, including hackathons, self-paced learning, challenges, assemblage forums and meetups, and adjacent (is this truly a surprise?) an accidental for Microsoft's partners to transportation their AI-related grooming and related wares.
For those getting started, determination are lessons similar Using AI for mundane tasks. This acquisition volition assistance you "Understand generative AI and place ways to usage AI astatine location and astatine work. Write effectual prompts and find adjuvant resources."
As an illustration of the much precocious topics, you tin take a people successful Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft's information analytics platform. The situation helps you hole for the DP-700 certification. During Skills Fest, the people is free, but if you bash privation to go certified, that's something you'll request to wage for extracurricular the Skills Fest environment, and it's astir $165.
Prizes, discounts, and information awards
If you don't privation to wage for certifications, you whitethorn beryllium successful luck. If you participate the Microsoft AI Skills Fest Challenge Sweepstakes (another sanction I couldn't marque up), you whitethorn beryllium capable to triumph 1 of 50,000 escaped certification vouchers awarded during play drawings.
GitHub is offering a 50% discount codification for GitHub's newest certification exam, GitHub Copilot. Once you decorativeness the GitHub Learn module, you'll beryllium fixed a discount code, which volition beryllium valid until May 28, 2025. To marque definite you don't dilly oregon dally, you indispensable complete the exam by June 30, 2025.
Now, here's what's got maine freaking retired astir geeking out. If you registry and implicit a grooming wrong the 24-hour play of the Guinness World Record situation connected April 7-8, 2025, you volition person … hold for it … a information badge. I mean, however retired of power is that? You could enactment "participated successful Guinness World Record challenge" connected your LinkedIn illustration (also owned by Microsoft, btw).
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Yes, you excessively could beryllium tangentially awesome, you Guinness World Record holder enabler participant, you!
Register present
I'm going to bash it. I registered astatine the Microsoft AI Skills Fest registration page. I told them I'm implicit 18 (if not emotionally, astatine slightest physically). I checked the connection that made it each look oh-so-real:
If I enactment successful the Al Skills Fest Event satellite grounds attempt, I hereby authorize Microsoft to enactment arsenic my typical and to participate into the applicable statement with Guinness World Records connected my behalf and I admit that I person reviewed the applicable presumption of the Guinness World Records Terms and Conditions.
I'm going to person an statement by proxy with Guinness World Records. If you spell to the registration leafage and stock your details, you tin besides participate, assistance Microsoft triumph a satellite record, and possibly adjacent larn something.
All Microsoft needs is 46,046 online participants successful bid to triumph a beauteous plaque that tin beryllium hung connected the partition crossed the corridor and down the hallway from Satya Nadella's country bureau connected the 5th level of Building 34.
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What astir you? Have you ever spent clip browsing the Guinness World Records conscionable to spot the wild, creative, oregon inspiring things radical person accomplished? Were determination immoderate records that amazed you oregon made you funny to larn more?
Are you readying connected registering for the AI Skills Fest? Are determination immoderate AI skills you privation to improve? What astir helping Microsoft triumph a Guinness World Record? Are you consenting to assistance them execute the pinnacle of firm niche selling success? Let america cognize successful the comments below.
Oh, and for the record, contempt my evident enthusiastically unrestrained sarcasm, this is simply a bully thing. It's escaped grooming connected a blistery taxable from a well-respected company. It's decidedly worthy taking immoderate clip and learning immoderate AI skills. In each seriousness, I'm going to instrumentality immoderate of the classes and I urge you do, too.
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