MLS-C01 Is Retired: What Replaced AWS’s ML Specialty (and What to Take Now)

Short answer: the AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty (MLS-C01) retired on March 31, 2026. You can’t book it anymore. If you were planning to take it — or you’re finding old study materials and wondering what’s current — the exam most people should take instead is the AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate (MLA-C01). If you already hold the Specialty, relax: your certification stays valid for its full 3 years from when you earned it.

What happened to MLS-C01

The ML Specialty had a long run as AWS’s flagship machine-learning credential, but AWS restructured its AI/ML certification line around the way the field actually works now. In its place sits a family of credentials at different levels: the AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) at the foundational level, the ML Engineer Associate (MLA-C01) as the hands-on practitioner credential, and professional-level generative AI certification above that. The last day to sit MLS-C01 was March 31, 2026; certifications already earned remain active for their normal 3-year term.

MLS-C01 vs MLA-C01 at a glance

The real difference: theory vs production

The Specialty leaned academic — algorithm selection, statistics, modeling nuance. The ML Engineer Associate tests what ML jobs actually involve day to day: data preparation (ingestion, Glue, Data Wrangler, Feature Store — 28% of the exam), model development (training jobs, tuning, Clarify, metrics — 26%), deployment and orchestration (endpoints, pipelines, CI/CD — 22%), and monitoring and security (drift, Model Monitor, IAM — 24%). Less “which algorithm minimizes variance,” more “ship it, monitor it, keep it secure.” For most working ML practitioners, that’s a better match — and at $150 versus the Specialty’s $300, it’s half the price.

What to do, by situation

• You were studying for MLS-C01: your ML fundamentals transfer, but re-aim at the MLA-C01 blueprint — it weights SageMaker operations far more heavily than modeling theory. Start with the free MLA-C01 study guide.
• You hold the ML Specialty: it’s valid until its printed expiration. When renewal time comes, MLA-C01 is the natural continuation for engineers.
• You’re earlier in the journey: if a 170-minute associate exam sounds like a lot, the AWS AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) is the gentler on-ramp — $100, no coding — and stacks naturally toward MLA-C01 later.
• Buying study materials: anything targeting MLS-C01 is now studying for an exam that no longer exists. Check the exam code before you spend.

Keep reading: Is the AWS AI Practitioner worth it? · AI-900 vs AI-901: Microsoft’s version of this same transition · All nine AI certs compared

HOW TO // AI is not affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon Web Services. AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty, MLS-C01, AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate, and MLA-C01 are certifications of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates; we reference them descriptively. Retirement details per AWS’s published certification updates; verify current policy with AWS.