9brains Academy

What is the Academy?

In the 9brains Academy you get to know 9brains right while you work, chapter by chapter. On a computer, an octopus at the edge of the screen keeps you company: on request it shows you where to find something, and it speaks up as soon as you have completed a task. Whatever you do anyway is ticked off by itself, including what you had already done before.

You reach the Academy through your user menu at the bottom left of the sidebar → Academy. On a computer the octopus then appears and suggests your next lesson; Open Academy on it shows you all chapters. On a phone the overview opens directly, there is no octopus there. A short message tells you about your successes instead.

The Academy has eight chapters:

1. Your first chat
2. Working as a team
3. Setting up your 9brains
4. Models and costs
5. Working with legal certainty
6. Connecting your data
7. Projects, skills and agents
8. Apps

You only see tasks that your license and your rights let you complete. Some are meant for administrators, such as setting the data privacy mode.

The Academy is available to everyone with a chat license. It belongs to your own workspace: if you also work in another workspace, you will not see it there.

Points, levels and leaderboard

Every task earns you points, and with them you rise from Beachcomber through Snorkeler, Diver and Deep-sea diver to Ocean explorer.

On the leaderboard you compare yourself with the colleagues in your workspace who use the same license. You appear there under a name of your own choosing, never under your real one. The others only see that name, your level and your points. The list only appears once at least five people in your group take part. If you would rather not be on it, switch off “Appear on the leaderboard” on the leaderboard.

Hiding the octopus

Hover over the octopus and use the cross to hide it until tomorrow, and in the Academy overview also for good. You can bring it back at any time through user menu → Academy. Your tasks, points and level are kept either way.

Working with legal certainty and proof of training

The chapter “Working with legal certainty” consists of seven short lessons on using AI safely and lawfully, each ending with a question. They are based on the EU AI Act and the General Data Protection Regulation. You also find the lessons without the octopus under Settings → Working with legal certainty.

With the Pro, Business or Max license you issue yourself a proof of training as a PDF after the last lesson. During the trial it stays locked; once you subscribe it is available without repeating any lessons. It shows which lessons you completed and when, and in an annex it also lists the tasks from the other chapters that 9brains recognized as done while you worked, each with its date. Anything you mark as done by hand is not included. This way the proof helps your company document AI literacy under Article 4 of the AI Act, from lawful use to informed deployment (more on this under Privacy & data sovereignty). The regulation provides for no inspection body and no official procedure for this.

An issued proof stays valid with the content version it was issued for. If new lessons are added later, you complete them and issue a new proof if you need one. If you have completed more tasks since your last proof, you can also issue a new one that lists them. If your name is wrong on the proof, the admin of your workspace changes it under Settings → Users, after which you issue the proof again.

Who sees what?

Only you see your points, your level and your place on the leaderboard; the others only see them if you appear on the leaderboard. The administrators of your workspace, and groups they give the right “View the Academy overview”, see how far you have got in the Academy and which tasks and lessons you completed when, but not your points, your level or your leaderboard name. 9brains does not store your individual answers in the lessons.

For administrators

• Your team’s progress: With the Business license you see under Settings → Administration → Academy each person’s progress, the lessons they completed and whether they finished the chapter “Working with legal certainty”. There you download the proofs in your language, one by one or all at once as a ZIP, and export the list as CSV. You give the overview to others, HR for example, with the group right “View the Academy overview”. If a person has no current proof in your language, 9brains issues one for them along the way, and it then also appears in their list. Whether someone can receive a proof depends on their license, not yours.
• Switching off the leaderboard: under Settings → Workspace → Show leaderboard. When it is off, nobody in the workspace sees the leaderboard; everyone still sees their own points and level.
• Switching off the Academy for individual groups: through the group right “Academy and octopus”, see Groups and models. All members have it by default. Anyone without it sees neither the octopus nor the Academy or the leaderboard.