2027 Summer Intern - Research and Development - AI/Machine Learning

General Motors • Mountain View, CA

19h • $10,300 - $13,600 • Hybrid

About The Position

This role is intended for a recent or soon-to-be-completed Ph.D. who brings strong depth in one or more advanced AI areas and the ability to work across disciplines. The intern will develop proof-of-concepts (POCs), evaluate them on meaningful engineering or scientific problems, communicate findings clearly, and collaborate with senior researchers and engineering partners to move promising ideas toward impact. GM R&D is seeking an outstanding early-career intern to contribute to advanced work in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Large Language Models. The role is designed for a fresh Ph.D. It emphasizes research depth, originality, experimental rigor, and growth toward independent technical leadership. The successful candidate will work with senior researchers, technical fellows, and engineering collaborators to formulate important problems, develop new methods, build research prototypes, and validate results. The work may span causal reasoning, neurosymbolic AI, world models, multimodal and generative AI, engineering agents, or related areas. The intern will be expected to connect theory and experimentation with real engineering needs while maintaining high standards for reproducibility, explainability, uncertainty awareness, and responsible AI.

Requirements

• Pursuit of a PhD in one of the following areas: Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Computational Science, Engineering, Physics, or a related field.
• Must be a current student
• Able to work fulltime, 40 hours per week during the summer months
• Demonstrated research depth in at least one relevant area, supported by a dissertation, publications, patents, open-source work, research software, or comparable technical contributions.
• Strong foundations in machine learning and deep learning, with working knowledge of optimization, probability/statistics, numerical methods, or scientific computing as appropriate to the research area.
• Experience developing and evaluating models in Python and frameworks such as PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow, or comparable tools.
• Ability to formulate experiments, select appropriate metrics and baselines, analyze results, and communicate technical conclusions with appropriate caveats.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with researchers, engineers, and technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work on-site or in a hybrid research environment in accordance with GM work practices and project needs.

Nice To Haves

• Research experience in causal inference, counterfactual reasoning, neurosymbolic methods and world models for engineering applications.
• Experience with multimodal AI, large language models, agentic systems, retrieval and reasoning, or AI-assisted engineering and software development.
• Evidence of research impact through high-quality publications, patents, invention disclosures, open-source contributions, awards, or successful technology demonstrations.
• Research or internship experience in automotive, mobility, aerospace, industrial, energy, defense, national laboratory, or university-industry collaboration settings.

Responsibilities

• Conduct original research in one or more advanced AI areas such as causal AI, neurosymbolic AI, world models, multimodal or generative AI or engineering agents.
• Translate engineering and scientific challenges into well-defined research questions, hypotheses, algorithms, and experimental plans.
• Design, implement, and evaluate machine learning models and proof-of-concepts using real, simulated, experimental, or engineering data.
• Develop methods that can reason about physical systems, causal relationships, uncertainty, constraints, temporal evolution, or complex interactions among components.
• Establish meaningful baselines and evaluation protocols; analyze failure modes, robustness, generalization, interpretability, and uncertainty rather than relying only on headline accuracy.
• Build reproducible research code, data-processing workflows, and experiment pipelines using modern deep learning practices.
• Collaborate with GM R&D researchers and engineering partners to understand domain constraints, validate research results, and identify pathways from POCs to practical use.
• Communicate technical findings through research reports, presentations, publications, invention disclosures, demonstrations, and clear documentation.
• Contribute to technical discussions and research roadmaps by identifying promising approaches, important risks, and high-value experiments.
• Participate in a collaborative research culture that values intellectual curiosity, constructive peer review, responsible innovation, and continuous learning.

Benefits

• GM will provide a one-time lump sum taxable stipend payment to eligible students selected for the 2027 Student Program - to help facilitate administration of relocation benefits, please apply using the permanent address you would move from.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree