Exam AB-731: AI Transformation Leader

What better way to start 2026 then to talk about a Microsoft certification, especially one for a totally NEW type of user!

Following on the steps of the other AB exams I’ve been writing about my experience with (see Exam AB-730: AI Business Professional, Exam AB-100: Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect and Exam AB-900: Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals ), this article will cover the AB-731 exam.

This exam is focusing on the Microsoft AI capabilities from a Business Leader perspective, and to the best of my knowledge is the first time that Microsoft has ever created an exam from a ‘Business Leader’ perspective. Taking this exam was a complete mindset shift to me, especially when seeing the questions – it’s not about understanding the in depth technical capabilities, but more around the breadth of technology options (spanning Azure, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio & other tools), and what they bring/enable from a BUSINESS perspective.

The official description of the proposed exam candidate is:

As a candidate for this Microsoft Certification, you should understand how to recognize opportunities for AI transformation, identify the right AI tools and resources, plan for AI adoption, optimize business processes, and drive innovation by using Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure AI services.

This Certification is designed for business decision-makers at all levels who are responsible for guiding transformation and innovation within their teams or organizations. In this role, you’re expected to demonstrate AI fluency, strategic vision, and the ability to lead AI adoption across teams and functions but are not expected to write any code.

As a candidate for this Certification, you should be able to evaluate AI opportunities, champion responsible AI practices, and align AI investments with business goals. You need experience leading adoption or change management in a business context. You must also be familiar with Microsoft 365 services, Azure AI services, and general AI capabilities.

The overall information for the exam can be found at Microsoft Certified: AI Transformation Leader, and there is an official Learning Path available for it.

As I’ve posted before around my exam experiences, it’s not permitted to share any of the exam questions. This is in the rules/acceptance for taking the exam. I’ve therefore put an overview of the sorts of questions that came up during my exam. (Note: exams are composed from question banks, so there could be many things that weren’t included in my exam, but could be included for someone else!). It’s also in beta at the moment, which means that things can obviously change for when it comes out of beta.

Overall, the exam approach was quite different to me – though I do talk with organisations frequently around general AI matters, I’ve never taken an example written in this way beforehand. However, I do feel that it’s very helpful to have this in place, to ensure that business leaders can demonstrate that they actually do know what they’re talking about

I’ve tried to group things as best together as I feel (in my recollection), to make it easier to revise.

• Azure Components & Capabilities
  • AI Vision – what it can be used for, benefits of using it, capabilities that it has
  • AI Language – what it can be used for, benefits of using it, capabilities that it has
  • AI Document Intelligence – what it can be used for, benefits of using it, capabilities that it has
  • Machine Learning – what it can be used for, benefits of using it, capabilities that it has
  • AI Foundry – what it can be used for, benefits of using it, capabilities that it has
  • AI Search – what it can be used for, benefits of using it, capabilities that it has
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
  • What license is needed
  • What data does it have access to
  • What security controls are in place
• Microsoft 365 Copilot
  • What is it, what can it be used for
  • What can it do
  • How does it connect to data
  • What are the connectors for it (standard & custom)
  • Benefits of using it (vs 3^rd party AI tooling)
  • Different agents (eg Analyst & Researcher) within it – what they do, how to access and use them
• Microsoft Copilot Studio
  • What is it, what can be used for
  • What can it do
  • What license is needed
  • What data can it access
• Microsoft Security Copilot
  • What is it, what can be used for
  • What can it do
  • Benefits that it provides
• Security & Governance
  • Content filtering controls within Copilot
  • Policies
  • Handling requirements to prevent inappropriate language & responses
  • Responsible AI principles
  • Governance ownership, responsibility & requirements
• Generative AI
  • AI model hallucinations
  • Grounding in data
  • Improving response quality
  • Prompt engineering
  • Pre trained models vs fine tuned models
  • Reasoning models vs non-reasoning models
  • Understanding usage costs (including different pricing models)
  • What is RAG, and how can it be used for business scenarios
  • Adoption throughout organisations – personas to involve in adoption team

I hope that this is helpful for anyone who’s thinking of taking it – good luck, and please do drop a comment below to let me know how you found it! I’d also be interested in your thoughts/opinions around the direction that Microsoft has taken for this!

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