Microsoft AZ-204 certification is Being Replaced by Microsoft AI-200 Certification
Microsoft has officially announced that AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure will retire on July 31, 2026. Its replacement — AI-200: Developing AI Cloud Solutions on Azure — marks a fundamental shift in what Microsoft expects Azure developers to know. This is not a minor update. The new Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate credential moves beyond App Service and Blob Storage to focus on containerised AI workloads, vector databases, Azure OpenAI integration, and event-driven pipelines. Whether you’re mid-prep for AZ-204 or starting fresh, here’s everything you need to know about the transition.