Human-Centered AI Intern Human-Computer Interaction

Toyota Research Institute

Job Location:

Los Altos, CA - USA

Hourly Salary: $ 45 - 65

Posted on: 7 days ago

Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI) were on a mission to improve the quality of human life. Were developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility weve built a world-class team advancing the state of the art in AI robotics driving and material sciences.

This is a paid 12-week internship opportunity and is a hybrid in-office role.

Heres a glimpse into the Internship experience from some of our TRI interns!

We welcome applicants from fields such as human-computer interaction computer sciences affective computing social sciences organizational behavior sociology behavioral economics human factors or related disciplines provided they have strong methodological training and interest in collective wellbeing.

The Mission

This internship falls within the Harmonious Communities Department in the Human-Centered AI Division (HCAI). Our research aims to understand simulate and shape wellbeing in complex real-world systems including workplaces communities and organizations. We study how wellbeing emerges is distributed and changes over time across groups and how organizational structures technologies and policies can support collective outcomes now and into the future.

The Team

We are an integrated team of behavioral scientists machine-learning researchers and human-computer interaction experts. Our research leverages real-world use cases to push the state-of-the-art in disciplinary thinking.

The Internship

We are looking for a Human-Computer Interaction (or similar) intern to investigate how organizations produce distribute and manage the emotional labor of difficult workplace conversations and what the informal adoption of AI tools in this space reveals about systemic gaps in organizational support project situated within our conversational AI research initiative engages foundational questions at the intersection of organizational behavior sociotechnical systems and AI. The project will involve conceptual work quantitative and/or qualitative analysis and system design with an emphasis on multilevel thinking. Research terrains guiding the work include:

Informal AI adoption and organizational gaps
Organizational production of emotional labor
Informal peer learning networks
Typology of difficult conversations

The strongest candidates will be generalists and flexible problem solvers. This internship is well-suited for candidates who are excited to build prototype solutions and take on high-risk high-reward challenges outside of the traditional academic research setting. Bonus points for experience in Future-of-Work research or organizational behavior.

Over the course of the project in addition to Harmonious Communities group meetings you will participate in all Human-Centered AI Division meetings and broader TRI events. You will be exposed to how interdisciplinary industrial research works and learn from our team and other interns in our division. You will also engage in strategy discussions about how your internship research connects to business impact at Toyota.

Responsibilities

Scope a research project aligned with Harmonious Communities HCI Conversational AI and Organizational Behavior research agenda.
Evaluate an existing conversational AI platform and where gaps are identified design and prototype alternative or supplementary solutions.
Drive the end-to-end research plan with regular feedback from your mentor and teammates.
Develop a taxonomy for understanding the factors shaping difficulty in workplace conversations.
Present findings in research meetings to the Harmonious Communities Department the HCAI Division TRI leadership and Toyota business group partners.
Produce work that informs internal strategy and is aimed at publication in an academic journal or conference.

Qualifications

Currently enrolled in a PhD degree program.
Track record of implementing research projects from start to finish.
Demonstrated experience with prototype design as well as mixed-methods research design and analyses.
Familiarity with messy real-world data and evidence of critical creative thinking about how this impacts study design and insights.
Ability to reason across multiple levels of analysis and translate research insights into implications for organizational decision-making.
Desire to work on challenging open-ended research projects.
Desire to be part of a highly interdisciplinary team and understanding of how this will improve your work.
Demonstrated ability to work autonomously while proactively soliciting feedback.
Interest in wellbeing organizational behavior emotional labor and/or the future of work.

Please add links to Google Scholar GitHub etc. and include a full list of publications and presentations when submitting your CV.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $45 and $65/hour for California-based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors including but not limited to a candidates experience skills job-related knowledge and market location. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical dental and vision insurance and paid time off benefits (including holiday pay and sick time). Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

Please reference thisCandidate Privacy Noticeto inform you of the categories of personal information that we collect from individuals who inquire about and/or apply to work for Toyota Research Institute Inc. or its subsidiaries including Toyota A.I. Ventures GP L.P. and the purposes for which we use such personal information.

TRI is fueled by a diverse and inclusive community of people with unique backgrounds education and life experiences. We are dedicated to fostering an innovative and collaborative environment by living the values that are an essential part of our culture. We believe diversity makes us stronger and are proud to provide Equal Employment Opportunity for all without regard to an applicants race color creed gender gender identity or expression sexual orientation national origin age physical or mental disability medical condition religion marital status genetic information veteran status or any other status protected under federal state or local laws.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process such as reviewing applications analyzing resumes or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed please contact us.

Required Experience:

Intern