AICX Association to Open Applications on May 15, 2026 for First AI Agent Strategist Certification Exam

The AICX Association announced that applications for the first AI Agent Strategist Certification exam will open on May 15, 2026. According to the association, this is Japan’s first certification focused on professionals responsible for implementing AI agents in enterprises. The certification is designed to evaluate not only the ability to use AI tools, but also the knowledge and practical skills needed to implement and embed AI agents within companies from the perspectives of business design, organizational design, and talent development. Target participants include corporate AI and DX leaders, business transformation personnel, IT planning staff, consultants, and executives. The first exam costs 14,800 yen including tax. Applications will be accepted from May 15 to June 25, 2026, and the exam period will run from July 1 to July 31, 2026. The exam will be conducted online. Alongside the opening of applications, AICX will also launch a corporate exam program for companies and organizations, intended for internal AI talent development, establishing a shared language across DX teams, and checking understanding after training programs. AICX says that as generative AI and AI agents spread across enterprises, interest is growing in people who can connect individual AI use to organizational results. The association believes the next challenge for corporate AI adoption is shifting from people who can use AI to people who can use AI to transform workplaces and organizations. The certification integrates three core perspectives. The first is AI agents, covering architecture design, task design, context design, and the development of organizational context assets such as prerequisite knowledge, instructions, memory, and search information. The second is business design, which turns tacit knowledge held by experienced staff into executable workflow assets for AI agents, while avoiding the trap of simply automating inefficient existing processes. The third is organizational design, including evaluation systems, job definitions, change management, and talent strategies for the AI era. The exam lasts 75 minutes and follows the official syllabus. The official textbook costs 2,980 yen including tax and is expected to be available as a downloadable PDF after purchase. The second exam is scheduled for applications from July 1 to September 25, 2026, testing in October, and results notification on November 25. The third exam is scheduled for applications from October 1, 2026 to January 25, 2027, testing in February 2027, and results notification on March 25. Representative director Kensuke Ozawa said there are already enough people who can use AI, but what is lacking are people who can use AI to transform workplaces and organizations. He noted that more than 2,300 people registered for the waiting list within about three months after it opened on February 13, 2026, showing strong interest among practitioners. Representative director Shin Oguri said that while companies are increasingly adopting AI tools, many struggle to achieve expected outcomes because ROI design and business process decomposition have not kept pace. He said the certification establishes a standard for practical talent that can help companies continuously turn AI into results, while the corporate exam program will support enterprise-wide development of AI agent implementation talent.