Getting in
AI Internships
There are 847 live AI internships on Kairos right now. Companies hiring AI interns right now include NVIDIA, Clera, GenBio AI, Cartesian Systems. AI internships recruit a season ahead - many summer 2027 roles open the previous fall - so the guide below covers when to apply, what they pay by role, the skills to show, and how to turn an internship into a full-time offer.
When to apply
Fall (Sep-Nov)
Next summer's internships open first at the largest AI labs and well-funded startups. Applications close early - some by October - so this is when to have a resume and one shippable project ready.
Winter (Dec-Feb)
The second, larger wave: most startups and mid-size AI companies post here. Rolling review means applying the week a role opens beats a polished application sent a month later.
Spring / rolling (Mar+)
Off-cycle, fall, and part-time internships, plus late-filled summer spots. Smaller companies and research labs hire year-round - worth checking live listings weekly rather than waiting for a season.
What internships pay
Not enough live internships disclose pay to quote an honest median yet. See the AI Salary Explorer for pay by role and seniority.
Skills to show
The skills AI employers request most, ranked across 47,985 live listings. Pick the ones that fit your track.
- Python12,797
- Machine Learning11,025
- Agentic AI10,102
- LLMs7,761
- GPU5,639
- AWS5,093
- Robotics4,767
- GCP4,522
- Kubernetes4,379
- C++4,293
- CI/CD4,137
- Distributed Systems3,963
Live AI internships
- Accelerated Computing Research Intern
NVIDIA · Research · remote
- Deep Learning Performance Intern - 2027
NVIDIA · ML / AI · onsite
- Software Engineering Intern, AI CI/CD Infrastructure – 2027
NVIDIA · Infrastructure / DevOps · onsite
- Deep Learning Performance Intern - 2027
NVIDIA · ML / AI · onsite
- Computer Vision & Robotics Intern
Clera · Robotics / Embedded · onsite
- Research Intern, World Models and Synthetic Data for Autonomous Driving - Summer 2027
NVIDIA · Research · onsite
- Robotics Simulation and Evaluation PhD Intern - Summer 2027
NVIDIA · Robotics / Embedded · onsite
- PhD Research Intern, Robotics - Summer 2027
NVIDIA · Research · onsite
How to stand out
- Ship one thing end to end. A deployed project that uses a real model beats three half-finished notebooks - it's the single strongest signal for an intern with little work history.
- Show the track, not the buzzwords. Point your resume at applied AI engineering, ML systems, or research - reviewers screen for fit to one, not a list of every framework.
- Contribute where AI companies can see it. An accepted PR to a library they use, a Kaggle finish, or a hackathon project is public proof you can build alongside others.
Already graduated? See the entry-level AI jobs guide for full-time roles instead.
About this data
- When do AI internship applications open?
- AI internships recruit a season ahead. Next summer's roles start opening in the fall - some close by October - with a larger wave through winter, and off-cycle and fall internships posting year-round. Because most reviews are rolling, applying the week a role opens matters more than a perfectly polished application sent later.
- Do AI internships pay well?
- AI internships are among the best-paid internships, but not enough live listings disclose intern pay yet to quote an honest median. See the AI Salary Explorer for pay by role and seniority.
- What skills do AI internships look for?
- Python is table stakes. Beyond it, employers screen for the skills of one track: LLM integration, RAG, and prompt engineering for AI engineering; deployment, Docker, and MLOps for ML engineering; statistics and experimentation for research and data science. The list above is ranked by how many live AI listings request each skill.
- Can an AI internship turn into a full-time job?
- Often - return offers are the main reason companies run internships. Treat the internship as a long interview: ship something that stays in production, build relationships with the team, and make it easy for a manager to argue for converting you. Landing the internship at a company you'd want to work at full-time is half the strategy.