14 AI Research Internships for Undergraduates

Internships are an effective way to translate your academic training into professional readiness. As an undergraduate, completing an internship strengthens your resume, demonstrates competence, and signals initiative to future employers or graduate admissions committees. You’ll gain exposure to problem-solving, collaborative workflows, and technical tools that are rarely taught in the classroom. In fast-evolving fields like Artificial Intelligence (AI), research experience allows you to work with the latest datasets, experimental models, and production-scale systems. If you are considering a career in machine learning, data science, robotics, or computational research, an AI-focused research internship can help clarify your interests. 

Why should I do an AI research internship in college?

An AI research internship allows you to move beyond theoretical coursework and engage with model development, experimentation, and evaluation. You may contribute to published research, develop novel algorithms, or optimize existing machine learning systems, experiences that strengthen graduate school applications in computer science, data science, or related disciplines. Research supervisors can also provide detailed letters of recommendation grounded in your technical contributions.

From a career standpoint, AI internships help you build a portfolio of tangible work, such as code repositories, research papers, technical reports, or deployed models. You will gain familiarity with industry-standard frameworks (such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX), cloud infrastructure, version control, and collaborative development environments. This practical exposure makes you more competitive for roles in machine learning, engineering, AI research, quantitative analysis, and applied data science after graduation.

To help you navigate your options, we’ve narrowed down a list of 14 AI research internships for undergraduates that are reputable, competitive, and open to students from a range of institutions.

1. Ladder University Internship Program

Location: Remote
Cost/Stipend: Varies by placement; financial aid available
Program Dates: Multiple cohorts each year (spring, summer, fall, winter)
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort; typically January, May, September, and November
Eligibility: Undergraduate and gap year students able to commit 10–20 hours per week for 8–12 weeks

The Ladder University Internship Program is a selective, fully remote internship that places you with startups and nonprofits across industries, including technology and AI-adjacent fields. During the program, you work on a defined, real-world project aligned with an organization’s operational or product needs. Depending on the placement, projects may involve data analysis, automation workflows, technical research, product strategy, or software-related initiatives. You collaborate directly with a manager at your host organization and operate within a structured remote environment that emphasizes accountability and deliverables. The program focuses on practical skill development, professional communication, and independent problem-solving. Throughout the internship, you receive feedback on your work and gain exposure to how distributed teams manage timelines and execution. Apply now!

2. Digital IT Summer Internship – W. L. Gore & Associates

Location: Newark, Delaware (on-site; relocation support available)
Cost/Stipend: $23–$27 per hour
Program Dates: Summer (minimum 10-week commitment)
Application Deadline: Typically early March
Eligibility: Undergraduate and graduate students who have completed at least their junior year and are pursuing degrees in IT, computer science, data science, AI, or related fields

The Digital IT Summer Internship at W. L. Gore & Associates places you within a cross-functional information technology team supporting enterprise-wide digital initiatives. During the program, you’ll contribute to projects spanning product innovation, supply chain analytics, commercial data analysis, HR analytics, and enterprise architecture. Your responsibilities may include cleaning and structuring datasets, developing basic predictive models, analyzing operational workflows, and assisting with the integration of AI and analytics tools into existing enterprise systems. You will work alongside IT professionals and business stakeholders, gaining insight into how data-driven decision-making supports a global manufacturing organization. The internship also includes structured networking and engagement opportunities with other interns.

3. AI and Machine Learning Intern – Air Liquide 

Location: Newark, Delaware
Cost/Stipend: $24–$30 per hour
Program Dates: 10-week summer program (specific dates not listed)
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Juniors or seniors pursuing degrees in Computer Science, Data Science, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or related fields; must have valid unrestricted U.S. work authorization (no visa sponsorship)

The AI and Machine Learning Internship at Air Liquide’s Electronics Materials division focuses on integrating data-driven tools into laboratory research workflows. In this role, you’ll support the development of AI-based solutions to analyze experimental laboratory data and improve efficiency in materials discovery processes. Your responsibilities may include preprocessing and structuring datasets, building analytical or predictive models, and assisting with workflow automation to streamline data acquisition and interpretation. You’ll work alongside researchers in materials science and engineering, identifying practical use cases where machine learning can accelerate experimentation or improve insight generation. The role requires proficiency in Python and commonly used libraries such as NumPy, Pandas, and Scikit-learn. Because the position bridges digital and laboratory environments, you are also expected to communicate technical AI concepts clearly to colleagues with traditional experimental backgrounds.

4. AMD – Undergraduate Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence Engineering Intern & Co-Op

Location: Fort Collins, CO; Longmont, CO; Austin, TX; Boxborough, MA; Fishkill, NY; Rochester, NY (hybrid options available)
Cost/Stipend: Paid; annualized compensation range approximately $59,072–$88,608 (varies by role and term)
Program Dates: Summer Internship: May 18–August 7 or June 22–September 11; Fall Internship: September 14–December 11; Summer/Fall Co-Op: May 18–December 11 or June 22–December 11
Application Deadline: Varies by position; early application recommended
Eligibility: Undergraduate students enrolled at a U.S.-based university majoring in computer science, computer engineering, data science, analytics, or related fields

The AMD ML/AI Engineering Internship and Co-Op program places you on full-time research and development projects supporting next-generation computing technologies used in AI, data centers, and high-performance computing environments. In this role, you will collaborate with engineering teams to analyze, design, and improve machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms that contribute to production-level hardware and software systems. The project work may include machine learning applications for source code analysis, computer vision, image corruption detection, performance optimization, or deploying AI models on AMD hardware platforms.

5. Undergraduate Intern in Digital Strategies – Pew Research Center (Summer)

Location: Washington, D.C. (hybrid; onsite Tuesday–Thursday, remote up to two days/week)
Cost/Stipend: $18.50 per hour; modest relocation stipend available
Program Dates: June 1–August 14 (alternative: June 15–August 28)
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Rising juniors and seniors pursuing a bachelor’s or associate degree; applicants must have completed at least two years of college and have experience with React

The Undergraduate Intern in Digital Strategies (Engineering) at Pew Research Center is a paid summer role within the organization’s digital team. The engineering sub-team focuses on building and maintaining the Center’s digital publishing infrastructure, including its WordPress-based platform. During the internship, you will contribute to modern WordPress development efforts, particularly through the Gutenberg project, which aims to modernize the WordPress ecosystem. In this role, you’ll learn to develop interactive and dynamic web applications using Gutenberg Blocks and React.

6. Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) – Research & Engineering Internships

Location: Seattle, Washington (onsite)
Cost/Stipend: Paid; competitive compensation (visa sponsorship available)
Program Dates: Typically 12 weeks; summer is the primary season, with some year-round opportunities
Application Deadline: Summer roles are generally posted in the fall of the previous year
Eligibility: Undergraduate (junior/senior) and graduate students in AI-related fields

The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) offers full-time research and engineering internships designed for students pursuing artificial intelligence and related disciplines. You will work directly with Ai2 scientists on active projects, contributing to foundational and applied AI research. You will be paired with a mentor and will participate in ongoing initiatives without publication restrictions, allowing for potential academic outputs aligned with internship work. Engineering internships focus on implementing and scaling AI systems, tools, and experimentation infrastructure. The projects may include integrating newly published models into demonstrations, optimizing internal experimentation platforms, or improving system performance and job scheduling capabilities.

7. Google – Student Researcher Program (AI)

Location: In-person at participating Google offices (varies by team and geography)
Cost/Stipend: Paid (compensation varies by degree level and location)
Program Dates: 12–24 weeks; minimum four days per week
Application Deadline: Varies by cycle; opportunities listed on Google Careers
Eligibility: Students currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD program

The Google Student Researcher Program offers paid research internships across Google’s AI-focused teams, including Google Research, Google DeepMind, and other applied AI groups. As a Student Researcher, you will work with a host team on projects that advance core artificial intelligence research or apply AI to challenges, including socially impactful domains. During the program, you’ll contribute to ongoing research initiatives, which may involve developing new machine learning models, running large-scale experiments, analyzing datasets, or refining evaluation methodologies. Projects span natural language processing, computer vision, reinforcement learning, responsible AI, and multimodal systems. The structure allows you to engage deeply with a specific research problem while collaborating closely with experienced scientists and engineers.

8. Databricks – Internships & Early Career Opportunities (AI & Data Engineering)

Location: Multiple global hubs, including San Francisco, Mountain View, Bellevue, Amsterdam, Berlin, Belgrade, and Bangalore
Cost/Stipend: Paid (compensation varies by role and location)
Program Dates: Typically 12 or 16 weeks (aligned with academic calendars)
Application Deadline: Applications generally open in August; hiring is rolling
Eligibility: Undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in computer science or related fields

Databricks offers paid internships across engineering, research, and data-focused teams centered on its Data Intelligence Platform, which manages the end-to-end lifecycle of data and AI applications. As an intern, you’ll work on projects that contribute to large-scale data processing, model training, AI deployment, or infrastructure development used by enterprise customers. The environment emphasizes production-level systems rather than simulated or academic-only work. AI- and research-oriented interns may focus on deep learning systems, distributed model training, optimization of large-scale data pipelines, or performance improvements within machine learning workflows. 

9. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Data Science – Rivian

Location: Palo Alto, CA; Irvine, CA (compensation varies by location; additional sites may apply)
Cost/Stipend: $33–$51/hour (Palo Alto); $26–$45/hour (Irvine); ranges vary by site
Program Dates: Summer
Application Deadline: Rolling (no fixed deadline)
Eligibility: Undergraduate, Master’s, or PhD students enrolled during the internship term with expected graduation between the next 2 years; pursuing degrees in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, AI, Machine Learning, or related fields

Rivian’s AI, Machine Learning, and Data Science Summer Internship is a general application that places you into consideration for multiple technical teams, including Autonomy, Autonomous Driving, Perception Engineering, Machine Learning/AI Engineering, and Data Engineering. If selected, you are matched with a specific team and project aligned with your technical background and skills. The projects may involve developing machine learning models for perception systems, supporting autonomous-driving pipelines, building data infrastructure, or analyzing large-scale datasets on vehicle performance and operations. You are expected to have experience in programming languages such as Python, C++, SQL, MATLAB, Java, or Kotlin, along with familiarity with frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or MLflow. 

10. Microsoft – Undergraduate Research Internship 

Location: Microsoft Research Labs (Redmond, WA; New York City, NY; New England, MA region)
Cost/Stipend: Paid (compensation details not publicly specified)
Program Dates: 12 weeks (summer)
Application Deadline: TBA
Eligibility: Rising juniors or seniors pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, information science, or related fields; must have at least two years of programming experience and coursework in calculus, probability/statistics, and/or machine learning (or relevant social science methodology training)

The Microsoft Undergraduate Research Internship Program is a 12-week summer experience designed for advanced undergraduates interested in computing research. You will be placed within Microsoft Research (MSR) labs and work alongside researchers, doctoral interns, postdoctoral fellows, engineers, and visiting faculty on research initiatives. The program aims to provide exposure to state-of-the-art research and encourage participants to pursue advanced degrees in computing fields. The research opportunities span a broad range of domains, including artificial intelligence, computer vision, human language technologies, systems and networking, and programming languages, among others. 

11. Meta AI – Research Internships & AI Research Mentorship Program

Location: Multiple global research offices (internships)
Cost/Stipend: Paid; competitive salary and benefits
Program Dates: Research internships vary
Application Deadline: Internships vary by role
Eligibility: Internships are typically open to undergraduate, Master’s, and PhD students

Meta AI offers multiple pathways for students and early-career researchers interested in artificial intelligence research, including research internships, postdoctoral roles, full-time research positions, and an AI Research Assistant program. Research internships provide experience working with engineers and scientists on complex AI challenges across areas such as computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing, multimodal systems, and human-centered AI. You will collaborate within research teams to develop new models, conduct experiments, and contribute to publications or open-source initiatives. The environment emphasizes both technical rigor and real-world applicability, particularly in advancing large-scale AI systems and human–computer interaction technologies.

12. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) Research Assistant – Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL)

Location: Laurel, Maryland (onsite; telework not available)
Cost/Stipend: $22.60–$47.95 per hour
Program Dates: Summer
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Undergraduate, Master’s, or PhD students in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related AI fields; U.S. citizenship required and ability to obtain an interim Secret security clearance

The AI/ML Research Assistant Internship at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is a summer research role within the Research and Exploratory Development Department (REDD). Interns join the AI Group inside the Intelligent Systems Center (ISC), contributing to research programs focused on advancing frontier AI systems for national security applications. Research areas include behavioral alignment of AI agents for human-machine teaming, training multimodal foundation models on language and sensor data, agentic AI for intelligent robotics, vulnerability assessment of frontier models, and mission-driven test and evaluation of emerging AI systems. As an intern, you will support the training, evaluation, and experimentation of advanced AI models, often working on one or two focused projects. Strong contributions may lead to publication opportunities.

13. Center for Human-Compatible AI (CHAI) – Research Internship

Location: UC Berkeley (in-person preferred; remote possible)
Cost/Stipend: $5,000/month (in-person); $3,500/month (remote)
Program Dates: Typically 12–16 weeks; flexible scheduling (often summer)
Application Deadline: applications closed
Eligibility: Undergraduate, Master’s, PhD students, researchers, or ML/software engineers

The CHAI Research Internship is focused on advancing research in human-compatible artificial intelligence, including AI alignment, safety, robustness, and value alignment. You will work on a defined research project under the supervision of a CHAI mentor. Most projects are primarily executed by interns with ongoing guidance, and often result in first-author workshop papers. In some cases, interns contribute to collaborative projects that may lead to conference publications. You are expected to demonstrate technical strength in machine learning and programming. While prior research experience is advantageous, CHAI also considers candidates transitioning into AI safety research who can demonstrate strong analytical and coding skills. You are encouraged to engage with the broader CHAI research community through seminars, workshops, and internal events.

14. Machine Learning Research Volunteer – NeuraVia Inc.

Location: Remote
Cost/Stipend: Unpaid (volunteer position)
Program Dates: Flexible; approximately 15 hours per week
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Applicants with experience in Python and machine learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch), including implementation of LSTM/GRU models, Transformers, VAEs, graph neural networks (GAT/R-GAT), and multimodal fusion methods

The Machine Learning Research Volunteer role at NeuraVia Inc. focuses on neuro-AI research involving multimodal data analysis. In this position, you’ll contribute to the development and refinement of model architectures that integrate diverse data types, such as cognitive test embeddings, voice-derived features, and vascular biomarkers. Your responsibilities may include implementing and optimizing neural network components, such as transformers, graph neural networks, variational autoencoders, and time-series models, and supporting multimodal fusion pipelines. You will collaborate with engineering and research teams to validate model performance, improve reproducibility, and prepare inference-ready modules. The role is technically demanding and best suited for candidates with hands-on experience with deep learning architectures and an interest in applied research at the intersection of AI and neuroscience. While unpaid, it offers exposure to advanced model development and cross-disciplinary research workflows

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