Future Product Innovation Research Intern, HCI Creativity

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We’re developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we’ve built a world-class team in human-centered AI, energy and materials, human interactive driving, robotics, and machine learning.

This is a Fall/Winter 2025 paid 13-week internship opportunity. Please note that this internship will be a hybrid in-office role.

Human-Centered AI

This internship opportunity falls within the Human-Centered AI Division (HCAI). We are an integrated team of ML researchers, behavior scientists, and human-computer interaction experts. At the core of our work, we aim to support people to make better decisions by using the best of big data, technology, and insights about why we do what we do.

The Team

The Future Product Innovation team is an interdisciplinary team of researchers working at the intersection of generative artificial intelligence (AI), design, engineering, and creativity. We use advances in cognitive modeling, physiological sensing, HCI, and machine learning to support human decision making. Our mission is to accelerate design and engineering processes in the automotive industry.

The Internship

We are seeking a highly motivated and versatile PhD research intern to join our Future Product Innovation team and open up the boundaries on what is possible with Generative AI technologies in the domain of narrative-driven design and future scenario generation. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in multi-media and immersive technologies, with demonstrated interest in design and generative AI. In this project, the intern will develop immersive scenarios driven by Generative AI tools with applications to generation of immersive scenarios for inventing and evaluating strategic scenarios, future product designs, and future social trends.

We will match the intern with mentors based on their experience. Over the course of the project, in addition to Future Product Innovation group meetings, the intern will also participate in all Human-Centered AI division meetings and meetings with stakeholders from relevant Toyota business groups. The intern will be exposed to how interdisciplinary industrial research works and learn from our team. Furthermore, the intern will engage in strategy discussions about how their research connects to business impact at Toyota.

• In collaboration with your mentor and the other researchers in the department, you will scope the project to align to the core research efforts.
• Be the primary driver of the technical plan (e.g., model development, analysis plan) with regular feedback from mentors.
• Execute the project using TRI resources.
• Present the project’s approach and findings in research meetings.

• Currently enrolled in a PhD program in Computer Science, Information Science, Immersive Media, Machine Learning (or related fields).
• Experience working with graphic design Generative AI tools like Google Veo, Gemini, Midjourney, Visual Electric, among others
• Experience with deep generative models for narrative generation such as Gemini, ChatGPT, etc.
• Track record of driving research projects, including publications at top venues, including but not limited to CHI, SIGGRAPH, CVPR
• Desire to work on exciting, open-ended research projects.
• Demonstrated ability to work autonomously while soliciting feedback.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills.

• Experience with developing research prototypes
• Experience adapting pre-trained models to specific tasks or domains through fine-tuning or similar techniques
• Experience working with immersive media and generative AI development tools

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.

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