Why should students build AI projects instead of collecting certificates only ?

Certificates can show that you completed a course, but they do not always demonstrate how well you can apply the concepts. A project gives you an opportunity to practise problem-solving. You need to understand the task, work with data, choose an approach, test the result and explain what you learned. For example, completing a machine learning course is useful, but building a small classification model helps you understand how the concepts work together. You do not need ten complicated projects. Start with two or three well-documented projects that you can explain confidently. Keep certificates as supporting evidence of your learning, and use projects to demonstrate your practical ability.