About the role

Aplyr's Quick Take

This is a paid internship focused on human-computer interaction within Toyota's Human-Centered AI Division. You'll work on research about emotional labor in workplace conversations and the role of AI tools in organizational support. It's a hands-on role that combines conceptual work with data analysis and system design.

Good fit

Ideal candidates are graduate students or recent graduates with a background in human-computer interaction, social sciences, or related fields. Flexibility and problem-solving skills are crucial, as well as a genuine interest in improving workplace wellbeing.

Worth noting

The internship is hybrid, requiring some in-office presence, and emphasizes real-world applications of AI in organizational settings. It's a unique opportunity to engage with interdisciplinary teams and tackle complex social issues.

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 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.

Here’s a glimpse into the Internship experience from some of our TRI interns!

We welcome applicants from fields such as human-computer interaction, computer sciences, affective computing, social sciences, organizational behavior, sociology, behavioral economics, human factors, or related disciplines, provided they have strong methodological training and interest in collective wellbeing.

The Mission

This internship falls within the Harmonious Communities Department in the Human-Centered AI Division (HCAI). Our research aims to understand, simulate, and shape wellbeing in complex, real-world systems, including workplaces, communities, and organizations. We study how wellbeing emerges, is distributed, and changes over time across groups, and how organizational structures, technologies, and policies can support collective outcomes now and into the future.

The Team

We are an integrated team of behavioral scientists, machine-learning researchers, and human-computer interaction experts. Our research leverages real-world use cases to push the state-of-the-art in disciplinary thinking.

The Internship

We are looking for a Human-Computer Interaction (or similar) intern to investigate how organizations produce, distribute, and manage the emotional labor of difficult workplace conversations, and what the informal adoption of AI tools in this space reveals about systemic gaps in organizational support structures.This project, situated within our conversational AI research initiative, engages foundational questions at the intersection of organizational behavior, sociotechnical systems, and AI. The project will involve conceptual work, quantitative and/or qualitative analysis, and system design, with an emphasis on multilevel thinking. Research terrains guiding the work include:

Informal AI adoption and organizational gaps
Organizational production of emotional labor
Informal peer learning networks
Typology of difficult conversations

The strongest candidates will be generalists and flexible problem solvers. This internship is well-suited for candidates who are excited to build prototype solutions and take on high-risk, high-reward challenges outside of the traditional academic research setting. Bonus points for experience in Future-of-Work research or organizational behavior.

Over the course of the project, in addition to Harmonious Communities group meetings, you will participate in all Human-Centered AI Division meetings and broader TRI events. You will be exposed to how interdisciplinary industrial research works and learn from our team and other interns in our division. You will also engage in strategy discussions about how your internship research connects to business impact at Toyota.

Skills & Tags

ai product design

Aplyr's read

Toyota Research Institute leads in AI and robotics to redefine mobility, attracting top talent in machine learning and human-centered design.
Synthesized from recent postings & public sources

What's promising

•Focuses on cutting-edge AI and robotics for transportation safety and sustainability.
•Offers roles in advanced fields like multimodal models and generative AI.
•Backed by Toyota, providing stability and significant resources for research.

What to watch

•Highly specialized roles may limit opportunities for generalist candidates.
•Research focus may not appeal to those seeking direct product development roles.
•Limited public information about work-life balance and company culture.

Why Toyota Research Institute

•Pioneers in integrating AI with automotive technologies for safer mobility.
•Emphasizes human-centered AI to enhance user experience in transportation.
•Strong collaboration with Toyota ensures alignment with industry-leading automotive innovations.

Aplyr’s read is generated by AI from public sources. Was it useful?

About Toyota Research Institute

Toyota Research Institute

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Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is a research organization focused on advancing artificial intelligence, robotics, and mobility technologies to enhance the safety and sustainability of transportation.