Internships in Responsible Tech
The All Tech Is Human community includes a diverse array of undergraduate and graduate students from various disciplines who are interested in exploring ways of entering the field of Responsible Technology while completing various stages of their educational journeys. Internship opportunities are pervasive throughout the responsible tech ecosystem, and, unlike Fellowships, which we explored in a recent blog post, responsible tech internships are increasingly plentiful within Big Tech, for those who are interested in gaining experience within the industry itself. Many of the industry internships are open to multiple candidates.
Responsible Tech internships in Big Tech
IBM: AI Ethics (Business Analytics & Communications) intern
IBM is seeking an intern to “be involved in Data Privacy and AI Ethics projects with a focus on business analytics and communications.”
In this role, you “will assist in writing reports, conducting research, analyzing data, and making recommendations to improve effectiveness and efficiency.”
The successful candidate must be a “Rising College Junior.”
IBM: 2022 Summer Intern – IBM Research Tech for Justice (Graduate Students)
This 2022 Summer internship at IBM Research focuses on “projects addressing challenges related to social and civic issues in some key domains, including – health, environment, education, economic development, employment, and criminal justice.”
The successful candidates will be “highly motivated students with a background in computer science, artificial intelligence, applied mathematics or equivalent areas. Candidates currently enrolled in graduate programs are encouraged to apply.”
IBM: 2022 Summer Intern – IBM Research Tech for Justice (Undergraduate Students)
This 2022 Summer internship at IBM Research focuses on “projects addressing challenges related to social and civic issues in some key domains, including – health, environment, education, economic development, employment, and criminal justice.”
The successful candidates “must be pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative discipline (Statistics, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or a related area).”
Meta (Facebook): Ethicist Intern, Reality Labs (Oculus) internship
Meta’s Reality Labs will “embed an ethics trainee into a team of engineers and research scientists who are focused on this mission and committed to responsible innovation.”
In this role, the intern will be “identifying new methods for embedding ethics into experimental design and leading workshops and discussions with internal and/or external stakeholders. A scientific background is not required to be successful in this role.”
The successful candidate “has, or is in the process of obtaining, a MS degree in the field of bioethics, neuroethics, philosophy, or a related field.”
Microsoft: Research Intern - Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics (FATE)
Microsoft Research is looking for Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics (FATE) interns.
Successful applicants will have “a background in a technical field (such as machine learning, AI, NLP, computer vision, or statistics)” or “a socio-technical orientation, such as those in HCI, information science, sociology, anthropology, science and technology studies, media studies, history of science, and law.”
“Must be currently enrolled in a relevant PhD program or JD (Juris Doctorate) program.”
Microsoft: Research Intern - Human-AI Experiences (HAX) Team
Microsoft Research is hiring interns for the Human-AI Experiences (HAX) Team who will “[conduct] fundamental research at the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI), artificial intelligence (AI), and software engineering…to empower the creation of responsible human-AI experiences to help ensure our AI technologies benefit people and society while mitigating potential harms.”
The 12-week internship involves “[conducting] interdisciplinary research via mixed-methods approaches such as qualitative or quantitative studies, building and testing prototypes, running experiments, and conducting data analyses.”
“Must be currently enrolled in a relevant PhD program in Computer Science or a related field.”
Previously available internships
Tech companies have offered a variety of openings throughout the past year, so it’s helpful to check year-round for seasonally available roles. Previously, we’ve posted the following internships on the job board, which likely means that similar roles will be available in the future:
IBM - AI Ethics Communications Specialist 2021 intern
Intel - Ethical AI intern
Microsoft - Responsible AI intern
Sony AI - AI Ethics intern - Fairness, Transparency, and Accountability (FTA)
Twitter: Machine learning Ethics, Transparency, Accountability (META) fall 2021 internship
Related internships
Opportunities are also available in related disciplines that offer valuable industry experience for those who are looking to land a responsible tech role within the tech industry after completing a degree program. Some of these roles can be found related to product development and research: User Experience Design and Research, Human-Computer Interaction, Computational Social Science, among others; other common pathways can be found through Privacy, Trust & Safety, and Tech Policy; these internships are much more plentiful than those that are explicitly “responsible AI” or “AI ethics” or “Ethical AI” or similar. Here’s a quick sampling:
Amazon: User Experience (UX) Designer Internship
Google: UX Research (PhD, Masters available too) internship
Google: UX Design internship
Google: UX Engineering internship
Google: Privacy Engineering internship
IBM: 2022 Summer Research Intern – Impact Science
Meta (Facebook): Research Scientist Intern, User Experience Research (PhD) (Reality Labs, Oculus)
Meta (Facebook): Research Scientist Intern, Human–Computer Interaction (PhD) (Reality Labs, Oculus)
Meta (Facebook): Core Data Science Intern, Computational Social Science (PhD)
PwC: PwC Labs Design UX/UI Intern Summer 2022
Salesforce: UX Product Design internship
Salesforce: UX Research internship
Spotify: Summer Internship Research Scientist in Tech Research (includes HCI)
Organizational Internships
Nonprofit organizations, Think Tanks, and Academic Research Institutes are full of internship opportunities as well:
Aspen Tech Policy Hub Intern – Design
Aspen Digital is seeking “a paid part-time intern (expected commitment: 5-10 hours a week, with hourly pay of $18/hour; some weeks will have more work than others) to work closely with the Director and Hub team to spearhead design initiatives.”
In this role, you will work on “UI/UX design on wireframes and front-end web design on platforms including WordPress and Google Sites,” and other design projects.
“Potential applicants should have experience completing design work in either graphic, layout, or UI/UX design…This is the perfect role for a student interested in further developing their design skills and learning about the operations of a tech policy non-profit.”
Brennan Center for Justice Internships
Brennan Center for Justice hires undergraduate and law student interns year-round.
“The Brennan Center for Justice brings impact litigation, advises lawmakers on the constitutionality of bills, drafts legislation and regulations, and produces public education materials on a number of topics. We have three programs: Democracy, Justice, and Liberty & National Security.”
Carnegie Mellon Language Technologies Institute summer internships
Carnegie Mellon’s Language Technologies Institute is looking for summer interns. “The topic of the internship will be ‘Language Technology For All,’ where you will focus on performing research on cutting-edge language systems to make them more accurate, efficient, or inclusive.”
The Institute is especially seeking candidates who “come from a group traditionally under-represented in computing and could bring a different perspective, speak a language that does not currently have good language technologies, or come from another academic discipline that could benefit from better language technologies than currently exist.”
Successful candidates must “Be enrolled in a university as an undergraduate, master’s or PhD student, or be recently graduated and planning to continue to further graduate study.”
Center for Democracy & Technology 2022 Internships
Center for Democracy & Technology has just opened applications for 2022 interns.
Interns work “on an array of civil liberties and international human rights issues related to technology and the internet, including online free expression, electronic surveillance, digital copyright, cybersecurity, internet governance, equity in technology, and consumer privacy.”
There are 5 types of internships available: legal, policy analyst, research, technologist, and nonprofit communications and development internships.
“College and law school students, recent graduates, graduate students, and PhD students with an interest in internet and technology policy, human rights, and/or civil liberties are invited to apply.”
Center for Human-compatible AI (CHAI) - Internship
Center for Human-compatible AI (CHAI) has recently opened applications for interns with a deadline of November 23rd. “This internship is designed for individuals who are interested in technical AI safety research.”
Successful applicants will have “a background in mathematics and computer science. Existing research experience in machine learning is strongly advantageous but not required.”
CHAI is seeking “undergraduate or Master's students in computer science or adjacent fields, PhD students/researchers, professional software or ML engineers, etc,” for a 12 week internship that pays $2,000 to $3,000 per month.
Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (UC Berkeley) - Social Media & Communications Intern
UC Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC) is hiring a Social Media & Communications intern to work on “content production for the web, social media, and various campaigns, as well as support for each of CLTC’s research programs, including a flagship program in public-interest cybersecurity.”
CLTC is seeking a “Berkeley undergraduate with a minimum enrollment expected at UC Berkeley through Spring 2022” to work "6-10 hour a week.
The Brookings Institution Internships
The Brookings Institution hires undergraduate and graduate interns across all research areas and various professional teams.
Applications for Spring 2022 program have closed. Check back in late August for 2023 availability.
Other Considerations
Like Fellowships, these internship opportunities can be highly competitive. Improve your chances of securing a role by building your professional network and investing time in the responsible tech community so that leaders in the field understand your interests and skill sets and can recommend your work.
One way to get involved is to join All Tech Is Human — connect with over 2k likeminded people in our Slack group, subscribe to our Newsletter (4k current subscribers), or sign up to volunteer!
