PhD Residency - AI/ML - NLP, Abstraction, Reasoning

Key Skills

Java Programming, Python Programming, C++, C Programming, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Reinforcement Learning, TensorFlow

Job Description

X is Alphabet’s moonshot factory. We are a diverse group of inventors and entrepreneurs who build and launch technologies that aim to improve the lives of millions, even billions, of people. Our goal: 10x impact on the world’s most intractable problems, not just 10% improvement. We approach projects that have the aspiration and riskiness of research with the speed and ambition of a startup.

THE FOUNDATION OF AN AMAZING JOURNEY

Our goal at X is to make the world a radically better place. In order to do that we seek fresh unexpected perspectives, from different fields, and that’s why we’re excited about you.

Life here isn’t easy, but it’s fun. We’re trying to build things most people can’t even imagine, and we’re doing it with the hope of making a huge, positive impact on the world. You’ll be embedded into a moonshot project, where you’ll partner with team members to solve key challenges.

This isn’t your ordinary internship. You’ll be positively challenged and pushed professionally, in ways that you may have never experienced. If this excites you - keep reading.

DURING YOUR INTERNSHIP YOU CAN EXPECT:

• To be placed on one of our confidential or public X projects
• To get paid competitively and with Google benefits
• To be part of a lively community of other Interns and Residents
• To addend colloquium and discussions with team leads from across Google, DeepMind and external organizations

DETAILS:

• Due to Covid-19, internships are held remotely through 2021
• Laptops and equipment will be provided
• Duration: a flexible 4 mo. to 1 year program based on project team needs and your availability.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Must be enrolled in an academic program and working towards completing a PhD degree

ABOUT THE TEAM:

One of X’s confidential projects is looking for new team members interested in building the future of ML with common sense reasoning and context. The team at X is experimenting with new ways to build and innovate ML frameworks and interacting abstractions using state of the art approaches. If you are interested in making the world a radically better place by improving software productivity and unleashing more engineering creativity, we want to talk to you!

WHAT YOU'LL BE WORKING ON:

• Collaborating with the X project team to apply novel approaches (RL, transformers, VAE, other state of the art methods in ML) to build an MVP 
• Rapidly develop prototypes to evaluate feasibility of various approaches; dispassionately assess performance and help team scope next steps
• Apply, modify, and develop new algorithms and software tools as the project demands
• Organize and process large volumes of data
• Work cross-functionally with experts at X, from Alphabet, and academia
• Report out to team on findings
• Engaging with the Internship community during the program (learning Moonshot thinking, attending colloquium and tech talks) & having fun!

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Currently enrolled or already completed in a PhD program in Computer Science with a strong interest in NLP, reinforcement learning, symbolic systems, and abstraction and reasoning
• A fast learner with strong coding skills in Java/Python or equivalent
• Passionate about development and the future of software engineering
• Ability to work in a small team / rapid prototyping environment and deal with uncertainty and fluidity

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Open-source projects that demonstrate relevant skills and/or publications in relevant conferences and journals (OOPSLA, PLDI, POPL, ICSE/FSE, and/or NeurIPS, ICLR or ICML)
• Aptitude in TensorFlow 
• Familiarity with programming language theory/practices and/or static code analysis
• Experience working in a startup/research environment