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Human-Centered AI Research Intern, Causal Reasoning Models
Job Location:
Job Location:
Los Altos, CA - USA
Hourly Salary:
USD 45 - 65
Hourly Salary:
Posted:
19 September 2026 (14 days ago)
Posted:
Application Deadline:
17 December 2026
Application Deadline:
Vacancies:
1 Vacancy
Vacancies:
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!
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 in Human-Centered AI Large Behavior Models Robotics Automated Driving Energy & Materials and Human Interactive Driving.
The Team
This internship opportunity falls within the Adaptive Behavior Systems team of Human-Centered AI Division (HCAI). We are an integrated team of ML researchers and social and behavior scientists. At the core of our work we aim to enable decisions through human-centered AI that advance collective well-being for people and the planet.
The Internship
We are seeking a highly motivated and talented PhD research intern to join our adaptive behavior systems team to push the boundaries of causal reasoning in LLMs. The intern will collaborate with our interdisciplinary team of machine learning behavioral and social scientists to study how well language-based generative machine learning models can reason causally and to develop methods for testing and improving causal reasoning. The project will be focused on researching in a specific sub-area of the overall goal towards publication in a top-tier venue. The intern will further engage in strategy discussions about how the research connects to business impact at Toyota.
This is a Winter 2027 paid 12-week internship opportunity. Please note that this internship will be a hybrid in-office role.
Responsibilities
- Perform research and publish in a relevant venue. Publication target venues include NeurIPS ICML ICLR CLeaR UAI and COLM with ACL or EMNLP where the contribution is primarily linguistic and TMLR as a journal option. Findings may also be presented at ACIC or EuroCIM. The exact topic is to be finalized with the mentor.
- Take ownership of the project from project inception and ideation to validation of the developed methods.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with researchers in multiple fields to research and develop technology that leverages generative AI to understand human behavior.
Qualifications
- Ph.D. student in related fields - AI/ML computer science data science statistics or related field.
- Publication record or demonstrated research experience in causal inference (structural causal models identification counterfactual reasoning).
- Hands-on experience with one or more of: LLM evaluation and benchmarking; mechanistic interpretability; and methods for improving LLM reasoning including prompting and prompt optimization post-training (supervised fine-tuning or reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards) pretraining or architectural changes.
- Experience with Python programming and DL frameworks like Pytorch.
- Interest in human-centered research (e.g. behavioral science computational social science) including qualitative and/or quantitative methods such as experiments and user studies.
- Excellent communication and teamwork skills.
Please add a link to Google Scholar and include a full list of publications when submitting your CV to this position.
The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $45 and $65/hour for California-based roles; however base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors including market location job-related knowledge skills and experience. Note that TRI offers a generous benefits package including vacation and sick time. Details of participation in 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.
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 and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. 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
About Company
Please add a link to Google Scholar and include a full list of publications when submitting your CV to this position. The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $45 and $65/hour for California-based roles; however, base pay offered may vary ... View more
