Undergraduate and Graduate - Artificial Intelligence Specialty Intern

National Basketball Association (NBA) • New York, NY

7d • $32 - $40

About The Position

The NBA Summer Internship is a 10-week program running from June 7 through August 13, 2027. It gives participants the opportunity to learn about the business of basketball, develop career skills, and contribute to projects across NBA departments and affiliate leagues. Interns also participate in professional development, community, and social programming.

The Artificial Intelligence Project Intern joins a specialized cohort building AI products and processes to improve the NBA’s league and commercial operations. Working on a project team managed by NBA AI and technology leaders, the intern supports AI applications—including agentic solutions—for fan experience, basketball operations, player health, and enterprise functions. The work aims to transform workflows, improve efficiency, and raise the quality of work. The role is intended for students with a strong interest and experience in technology, engineering, artificial intelligence, business consulting, and data-driven problem solving, and requires foundational mastery of AI technologies to help execute projects and achieve business objectives.

Projects are confirmed each spring according to league priorities. Expected areas for 2027 include enterprise applications; basketball operations and research; player health; fan experience; and data intelligence and platform analytics. Projects may involve redesigning workflows, creating visual outputs and analytics, developing tools for medical and performance staff, personalizing NBA platform experiences, or building data pipelines, retrieval, search, and AI-assisted reporting.

The program is intended for currently enrolled undergraduate rising seniors or graduate students in relevant fields. The listed pay is $32 per hour for undergraduates and $40 per hour for graduate students. Eligible employees and/or dependents may be eligible for company-sponsored medical, short-term disability, mental health coaching or therapy, and sick-time benefits; eligibility varies by role.

Requirements

• Currently enrolled in a bachelor's degree program as a rising senior, or enrolled in a graduate degree program, in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Statistics, or a related field.
• Working knowledge of Python and SQL.
• Built at least one AI-powered app or automation through coursework, personal projects, research, or hackathons.
• Understands how large language models work, including their limitations.
• Familiar with APIs, Git, and software testing, and able to explain and check code written with AI coding assistants.
• Handles data and access securely.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical work to non-technical audiences.
• Works well in a team and can manage several priorities at once.
• Strong academic standing and demonstrated leadership through extracurricular or community experience.

Nice To Haves

• Relevant coursework, projects, or experience with AI tools or machine learning techniques.
• Prior internship or hands-on project experience in technology or applied AI.
• Experience building AI agents or multi-step workflows, including tool calling, MCP, or reusable skills.
• Experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and search over source material.
• Experience with AI coding and development tools such as Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Amazon Bedrock, or Microsoft Copilot Studio.
• Experience testing and measuring AI quality, such as accuracy, speed, and cost.
• Product design experience and experience building user interfaces for AI tools.
• For basketball or player health projects, experience with computer vision, 3D or game engines such as Unreal Engine, or sensor data.

Responsibilities

• Identify areas where AI can improve business processes and enterprise applications across the organization.
• Develop and test AI-enabled prototypes addressing operational needs across business and basketball functions.
• Support end-to-end development cycles, including problem definition, data acquisition, model creation, evaluation, and stakeholder demonstrations.
• Translate business needs into AI/ML solution frameworks under the guidance of AI and data governance leaders.
• Work with a project team to maintain quality, alignment, and responsible AI practices.
• Evaluate and determine new AI use cases for current workflows or emerging initiatives.
• Document methodologies, workflows, and findings to support transferability and scale.

Benefits

• Medical benefits may be available to eligible employees and/or dependents.
• Short-term disability benefits may be available to eligible employees and/or dependents.
• Mental health coaching or therapy may be available to eligible employees and/or dependents.
• Sick time may be available; eligibility varies by role.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern