2020 AI Residency Guide

As global AI development and deployment continues, the demand for AI talents is growing faster than ever. A number of industry leaders and reputable institutions offer AI residency programs designed to help nurture promising AI talents. These present an excellent opportunity for young people interested in AI to gain valuable work experience and even make some pocket money. Synced has identified AI related 2020 residency programs that may be of interest to readers.

OpenAI 2020 Spring Scholars

• Deadline: 11/15/2019
• Duration: 4 months full-time; February 3, 2020 — June 5, 2020
• Location: This is a remote program. OpenAI can offer candidates in the Bay Area a desk at their office.

Requirements:

• Applicant is “a member of an underrepresented group in science and engineering.”
• Applicant should have US work authorization and be located in the United States for the duration of the program
• Applicants should have 2+ years experience in software engineering (no machine learning experience required).
• Comfortable programming in Python (other languages are helpful, but Python is used in the program).

Offerings:

• US$8.5K stipend for 4 months from February 3rd, 2020 through June 5th, 2020
• US$25,000 worth of Azure credits from Microsoft
• A mentor, who will work with candidate 1:1 via video call each week, answer questions via chat/email, and work with you to design and execute a good project to stretch candidate’s skill
• Access to a group Slack with the scholars and mentors

Google AI Residency Program

• Deadline: 12/19/2019
• Duration: 12 months; The Google AI Residency Program will start some time between June — October 2020. Exact dates are to be determined.
• Locations: New York, Cambridge (Massachusetts), Seattle (Washington), Montreal, Toronto, Zurich (Switzerland), Berlin (Germany), Accra (Ghana) and Tel Aviv (Israel) depending on project fit and availability.

Requirements:

• BS degree or equivalent practical experience in a STEM field such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Biology, Economics or other disciplines.
• Experience with coding in Python, C/C++, or Java.
• Research experience in machine learning or AI techniques (e.g. open source project(s), campus lab experience, research internship(s), or publication(s)).

Preferred qualifications:

• Ability to collaborate and communicate across multiple teams (in a multi-disciplinary environment)
• Passion for the field of Machine Learning Research

Offerings

• Residents will have the opportunity to be mentored by distinguished scientists and engineers from various teams within Google AI, and work on real-world machine learning problems and applications.
• Residents also have the opportunity to collaborate and partner closely with various research groups across Google and Alphabet.

Facebook AI Residency

• Deadline: 01/31/2020
• Duration: 1 year full-time research training position, and residents will start in August 2020.
• Locations: Menlo Park, Seattle, and New York.

Requirements:

• Coding experience in a programming language such as Python or C/C++.
• Must obtain work authorization in country of employment at the time of hire, and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment.

Preferred qualifications:

• Currently has, or is in the process of obtaining, a Bachelor’s degree in a STEM field such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• Completed coursework in: Linear Algebra, Probability, Calculus, or equivalent.
• Knowledge in learning platforms such as PyTorch, Caffe, Theano, or TensorFlow.
• Significant contributions to open-source projects, demonstrating strong math, engineering, statistics, or machine learning skills.
• Experience communicating complex research in a clear, precise, and actionable manner.

Offerings

• The Residency pays a competitive salary and relocation for those that are eligible.
• The AI Residency program will pair resident with an AI Researcher and Engineer who will both guide project.
• With the team, resident will pick a research problem of mutual interest and then devise new deep learning techniques to solve it.
• Facebook also encourage collaborations beyond the assigned mentors.
• The research will be communicated to the academic community by submitting papers to top academic venues (for example, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ICCV, ACL, EMNLP etc.), as well as open-source code releases and/or product impact.

Microsoft AI Residency Program

• Deadline: 01/31/2020
• Duration: 12 months; September 2020 — August 2021
• Locations: Redmond, US; Cambridge, UK

Requirements:

• BSc, MSc, and PhD graduates with substantial coursework in, but not limited to: computer science, electrical engineering, data science, mathematics, physics, economics, human-computer interaction, and computational biology.
• Experience developing in at least one high-level language such as Python or C/C++/C#.
• Experience with machine learning techniques or deep learning frameworks is desirable.
• Enthusiasm to move into the field is essential.
• Ability to work in a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary environment.
• Strong communication skills.

Offerings:

• Gain real-world, hands-on industry experience while working with Microsoft researchers, engineers, and product teams.
• Learn how to develop and deploy AI techniques and solutions at scale across a range of areas such as healthcare, scientific discovery, productivity, and gaming.
• Benefit from a rich program of training and mentorship.
• Be part of a vibrant AI and machine learning community in Cambridge, UK, or Redmond, WA.
• Receive competitive compensation and be encouraged to apply for a regular position at Microsoft at the end the residency program.

Previously, tech leaders Uber and NVIDIA also offered year-long AI residency programs, but any programs for 2020 have yet to be announced.

Journalist: Fangyu Cai | Editor: Michael Sarazen

We know you don’t want to miss any stories. Subscribe to our popular Synced Global AI Weekly to get weekly AI updates.

Need a comprehensive review of the past, present and future of modern AI research development? Trends of AI Technology Development Report is out!

2018 Fortune Global 500 Public Company AI Adaptivity Report is out!
Purchase a Kindle-formatted report on Amazon.
Apply for Insight Partner Program to get a complimentary full PDF report.