An AI feature brings together data, a model and actions taken by an application. Introduction to Security in the World of AI helps you examine those connections and organise questions about the risks around them.
This free introductory Google course is aimed at security and data-protection leaders, with beginner-level conceptual material. It connects an overview of AI systems with Google’s Secure AI Framework, known as SAIF. You study the approach without purchasing a security product or testing a live system.
Course at a glance
| Provider | |
|---|---|
| Platform | Google Skills |
| Level | Beginner |
| Language | English |
| Format | Conceptual lessons, two quizzes and resource documents |
| Estimated study time | Google estimates one hour; your pace may vary |
| Access | Free course; ordinary free Google Skills account required |
| Required tools | Browser; no paid security software or cloud lab required |
| Recognition | Completion badge advertised; no formal certificate or academic credit promised |
What you’ll learn
- Recognise AI, ML and generative AI within APIs and applications.
- Describe the security concerns around using AI systems.
- Identify questions about data flows and system interactions.
- Explain the purpose of SAIF and its six elements.
- Use a framework to organise an AI security discussion.
Skills you’ll gain
- AI system awareness
- Data-flow questions
- Security-risk framing
- SAIF terminology
- Strategy-discussion planning
Understand the system before discussing controls
The first section covers how AI works, how people engage with it and where data comes from and goes. Use these lessons to describe a system in ordinary language before moving to security terminology. A risk discussion is harder to follow when the system itself remains vague.
In your notes, distinguish what you know from what you would need to ask the people responsible for an application. Do not fill a gap with a reassuring assumption. Making an unanswered question visible is useful preparation for a more detailed review.
Use SAIF to structure the conversation
The second section introduces security changes around AI, a secure foundation and SAIF’s six elements. Industry use cases provide context for considering the approach. The material gives you a framework for organising a discussion, rather than evidence that a particular implementation is secure.
After a lesson, explain which question it helps you ask and who could provide the relevant information. This turns a framework term into a practical next step. It also keeps technical responsibility visible instead of treating a completed course as a substitute for implementation work.
Make a fictional system map
For optional personal practice, imagine a small internal assistant that answers questions from a fictional handbook. Sketch where its input comes from, which application receives it and what the user sees. Use made-up details and keep the exercise on paper or in a free text editor.
Add questions about who may supply information, who may view an answer and who reviews the system when something changes. Separate a question from a control you have actually confirmed. No external model, private dataset or live security test is needed for this exercise.
This is independent study guidance, not a provider assignment or an approved security design. Its purpose is to help you explain the system and identify the evidence a qualified team would need before making decisions.
Free study with realistic expectations
The current advertised course contains conceptual lessons, two quizzes and resource documents, without a required cloud lab. An ordinary free Google Skills account is needed for activities and progress. No mandatory paid plan, trial, card, security software or API purchase is required for the learning route.
Use the one-hour estimate as a guide and revisit concepts that are unfamiliar. Google advertises a completion badge. No formal certificate or academic credit is promised, and course completion does not establish legal compliance, tested security effectiveness or a professional qualification.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need paid security tools?
No paid security tool is required for the advertised lessons, quizzes and resources. The course uses an ordinary free Google Skills account.
Will the course certify that my AI system is secure?
No. It teaches concepts and a framework. A real system requires its own implementation, evidence and security review.
Is this a hands-on penetration-testing course?
The advertised route is an introductory conceptual course on AI security and SAIF, not a live attack exercise or penetration-testing lab.
Questions & discussion
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