EC-Council , creator of the world-renowned Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) credential and a global leader in applied cybersecurity education and training, today launched its Enterprise AI Credential Suite, with four new role-based AI certifications debuting alongside Certified CISO v4, an overhauled executive cyber leadership program. The dual launch is the largest single expansion of EC-Council’s portfolio in its 25-year history, built for one clear reality: AI is scaling faster than the workforce trained to run, secure, and govern it.
The launch aligns with the Gulf region’s accelerating national AI agendas, as GCC countries invest heavily in AI-driven economic transformation, digital government, and critical infrastructure modernization. In Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it directly supports the Kingdom’s priorities under Vision 2030 and the National Strategy for Data and AI (NSDAI), which positions AI capability as a pillar of competitiveness, resilience, and long-term growth.
Across the GCC, organizations are rapidly moving from AI pilots into production systems, where security, governance, and accountability are no longer optional. As AI becomes embedded into finance, energy, logistics, healthcare, and public services, the demand is rising for professionals who can deploy AI responsibly, defend AI-enabled systems, and operationalize governance at scale.
Demand is already visible in Saudi Arabia’s workforce targets and the pace of capacity-building. Under NSDAI, the Kingdom aims to train 40% of the workforce in basic data and AI skills and develop 20,000 data and AI specialists and experts by 2030.
Progress is scaling in parallel, with more than 779,000 citizens trained in data and AI, including 9,775 specialists, while a nationwide AI curriculum is expected to reach more than six million students beginning in the 2025–2026 academic year.
“Vision 2030 has set an ambitious direction for national AI capability, and similar momentum is building across the GCC,” said Jay Bavisi, Group President, EC-Council. “The next step is turning that ambition into role-ready skills so professionals and organizations can adopt AI responsibly, defend it under real conditions, and govern it with accountability as AI becomes part of everyday operations.”
Role-Aligned Certifications
The Enterprise AI Credential Suite is structured to mirror how AI capability is developed in practice. Artificial Intelligence Essentials (AIE) serves as the baseline, building practical AI fluency and responsible usage across roles, and it is supported by EC-Council’s proprietary Adopt. Defend. Govern. (ADG) framework, which defines how AI should be operationalized at scale in real environments.
Adopt: Prepare teams to deploy AI deliberately, with readiness and safeguards
Defend: Secure AI systems against emerging risks, including prompt injection, data poisoning, model exploitation, and AI supply-chain compromise
Govern: Embed accountability, oversight, and risk management into AI systems from the outset
Within this structure, the four new certifications align directly to specific workforce needs across the AI lifecycle.
• Artificial Intelligence Essentials (AIE) builds foundational AI literacy.
• Certified AI Program Manager (CAIPM) equips to translate AI strategy into execution, aligning teams, governance, and delivery to drive measurable ROI and enterprise-scale intelligence.
• Certified Offensive AI Security Professional (COASP) Builds elite capabilities to test vulnerabilities in LLMs, simulate exploits, and secure AI infrastructure hardening enterprises against emerging threats.
• Certified Responsible AI Governance & Ethics Professional (CRAGE) Focuses on Responsible AI, Governance and Ethics at enterprise scale with NIST/ISO compliance.
Alongside the new AI certifications, Certified CISO v4 updates executive cyber leadership education for AI-driven risk environments, strengthening leadership readiness as intelligent systems become part of core business operations and security decision-making.
“Security leaders are now accountable for systems that learn, adapt, and influence outcomes at speed,” Bavisi added. “Certified CISO v4 prepares leaders to manage AI-driven risk with clarity, strengthen governance, and make informed decisions when responsibility is on the line.”
The portfolio also builds on EC-Council’s long-standing work with government and defense organizations, including its existing DoD 8140 baseline certification recognition, as AI security and workforce readiness take on greater national importance.
