As advances in technology leap ahead, the relevance of AI is on the rise. If you’re a high school student who wants to gain experience in the field of AI, you should consider applying for an internship! AI is the foundation for a number of technologies, including machine learning algorithms, robotics, natural language processing, computer vision, biotechnology, and more. Internships in AI, offered by tech companies and institutions like Microsoft, MIT, Meta, and Stanford, will allow you to apply your skills in technology, coding, and problem-solving in real-world situations. 

Participating in AI internships is a great way to boost your profile for college applications, making your application stand out. Internship experiences will deepen your understanding of concepts in AI and prepare you for future academic and career endeavors in STEM.

Here are 11 of the best AI internships for high school students that you can consider!

1.  AI Internship Program by Veritas AI

The AI Internship Program by Veritas AI is founded and run by Harvard graduate students. Through the 8-week internship, students have the opportunity to work with VC-backed startups on real-world AI/ML projects. Students work directly with mentors from Harvard, Wharton, Google, Microsoft, McKinsey & Company, and more. This program is a great opportunity for students who have prior experience with AI/ML and are looking to gain real-world exposure to a career in the field. Students get a chance to network with industry professionals, work closely with company leadership, and receive a letter of completion from the company at the end of the internship. You can learn more about the program here and apply here.

Cost: $2,490

Application Deadline: Varies according to cohort

Internship Date: Varies according to cohort

Eligibility: Open to high school students who have prior experience with AI/ML or have completed a Veritas AI program 

2. The Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging (AIMI) - Summer Research Internship

Location: Virtual.

Cost/Stipend: No cost; Unpaid.

Application Deadline: Applications typically close in March.

Dates: June 17 - 28.

Eligibility:  Summer Research interns must be high school students over the age of 14 by the start of the program and California residents.

This Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging offers a two-week summer internship for high school students interested in technology and AI. This is a great opportunity to develop a foundation in AI while exploring the impact it can have on healthcare. As an intern, you will attend lectures on AI in healthcare and participate in research projects. Due to the intensive nature of the internship, you will be under the guidance of Stanford AI research engineers. You will also get to attend Virtual Career Lunch and Learns with guest speakers from academia, nonprofit, and government organizations, helping you explore possible careers!

3. MIT Lincoln Laboratory High School Internship Program 

Location: Lexington, MA.

Cost/Stipend: No cost; Stipend is provided.

Application Deadline: Applications typically close in March.

Dates: July 10 - August 15

Eligibility: Applicants must have U.S. citizenship, be local high school rising seniors, and be 16 years of age before the start date.

The Summer High School Internship Program at MIT Lincoln Laboratory provides a unique opportunity for rising seniors who live and attend high school in the New England area. You will be paired with Laboratory staff mentors to complete projects, solve problems, and learn and apply technical and interpersonal skills in a professional environment. If you’re interested in AI, you can choose to work on projects related to artificial intelligence and technology systems. These projects will help you explore machine learning and signal processing to discover some of the nation’s most impactful technologies for national security. You could also opt to work on developing technology for advanced satellite systems that are used to monitor the activity of objects in space and to perform remote sensing of Earth.

4. Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) High School Internships

Location: There are AEOP locations in almost every state. Students may select their preferred location. Transportation, meals, and housing are not provided.

Cost/Stipend: No cost; Stipend is provided but varies from location to location.

Application Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Check AEOP’s Summer opportunities here for the application dates.

Dates: This is a summer internship program, and specific dates vary from location to location.

Eligibility: Those applying must be current high school students who are U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents. Additional eligibility requirements vary by location. Check details here.

This program offers a chance to work one-on-one with a university researcher or Department of Defense (DoD) scientist mentor on research projects. As an intern, you will be exposed to high-tech equipment and work with professional scientists and engineers. The Army-sponsored research that you will be a part of addresses the USA’s biggest challenges. If you’re interested in AI, you can select research opportunities that use applications of AI, coding, and ML, such as the ones offered by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command-Aberdeen Proving Grounds - GNC Research with the Julia Programming Language or U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory  - ARL Northeast (Boston). You can check AEOP’s Summer 2024 opportunities here.

5. NASA and UT Austin’s STEM Enhancement in Earth Science (SEES) Summer High School Intern Program

Location: Austin, TX (Virtual options are available).

Cost/Stipend: No cost; Unpaid (Upon completion of the internship, both virtual and on-site interns will receive a NASA certificate of completion).

Application Deadline: Applications typically close in February.

Dates: July 27 - August 4 (10th graders) | July 7 - July 20 (11th graders).

Eligibility: Applicants must be current high school Sophomores or Juniors who have not worked as a SEES intern previously, must be 16 years old by July 1, and must be US citizens.

During the SEES High School Summer Intern Program, each intern will complete virtual distance learning activities. These activities must be completed by July 1 to be eligible to participate in the internship. Both on-site and virtual interns will work with NASA subject matter experts in July. The 11th-grade residential internship is for two weeks at the University of Texas Center for Space Research, and the 10th-grade residential internship is for one week. The 11th-grade interns can choose project themes like Astronaut Photography, aerospace engineering, Mars Rover resource utilization, and more. Over a week, 10th-grade interns will collaborate with ZERO-G flight mentors to engineer and develop a compact, one-of-a-kind research payload to be tested in microgravity on board the ZERO-G parabolic aircraft.

6. Microsoft’s High School Discovery Program

Location: Redmond, WA | Atlanta, GA.

Cost/Stipend: No cost; Interns are paid a competitive wage that varies based on the location.

Application Deadline: Applications typically open in March for Redmond and Atlanta students and are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Dates: July 8 - August 2.

Eligibility: Open to high school graduating seniors who live within 50 miles of Redmond, Washington, or Atlanta, Georgia. Students must be at least 16 years old and have a legal right to work in the U.S. and must have completed pre-calculus or an equivalent course.

Microsoft’s High School Discovery Program is a great way for high school students with an interest in technology to explore the applications of AI in one of the world’s leading tech companies! You will work in a small team to complete a project for your product group. You will gain exposure to Software Engineering, PM (Technical PM or Product Management), and UX Design disciplines. Over your 4 weeks as an intern, you will get a holistic understanding of the design phase of product development by working on AI-powered solutions. You will also be guided by Microsoft engineers who will help you explore career options in tech both within and beyond Microsoft. Interns will learn about machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and more. 

7. Meta Summer Academy

Location: Menlo Park, CA.

Cost/Stipend: No cost; Students will receive a stipend!

Application Deadline: Applications typically close in March. The admissions cycle opens in December.

Dates: June 17 - July 26.

Eligibility: High school sophomores with a minimum of 2.0 Cumulative GPA who are full-year residents of East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, or Redwood City are encouraged to apply.

Meta Summer Academy, previously known as the Facebook Summer Academy, allows students to understand AI within a leading tech and social media company. You will participate in tasks such as coding projects involving machine learning and deep learning while receiving mentorship from Meta professionals! You will be expected to work for 30 hours per week. In addition to exploring the technical aspects of Meta, you will also get insight into the ethical considerations of AI and data usage and its role in shaping tech platforms and apps. Meta provides you with a solid foundation to understand AI’s applications while equipping you with valuable skills for a successful tech career!

8. University of New Hampshire’s HighTech Bound

Location: University of New Hampshire Campus, Durham, NH.

Cost/Stipend: No cost; Interns are paid a competitive hourly rate.

Application Deadline: Applications typically close in February. The application will open on January 1.

Dates: The internship program typically runs for five weeks in the June/August timeframe. Eligibility: Open to rising seniors who are U.S. residents. 

HighTech Bound is a paid summer internship program for rising high school seniors with a keen interest in technology. This internship offers you the chance to gain practical experience in network technologies and AI through a 4-week experience. As an intern, you will receive guidance from mentors, collaborate in an advanced computer lab, and work on team projects that aim to innovate AI integration. These projects will also give you access to the latest software technology used by Apple, Dell, and Cisco. You will also have the opportunity to network while finding research solutions and contributing to impactful research! 

9. Spark Summer Mentorship Program (SPARK SMP)

Location: Greater Seattle area, WA or Virtual

Cost/Stipend: No cost; Stipends are based on the project, as some projects offer stipends and others do not. 

Application Deadline: Applications typically close in May after opening in April. Applications open sometime in March/April.

Dates: Vary depending on the opportunity, typically between June and August (~6-8 weeks).

Eligibility: High school students in the Greater Seattle area who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and can work for 40 hours/week for 8-12 weeks.

Participants in SparkSMP can choose from 1 to 5 projects that interest them, with selected students (only 5-6) receiving mentorship from sponsors. The program also provides beneficial resources and opportunities during and after the college application process. SparkSMP offers you the chance to apply concepts in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data visualization to real-world scenarios. The program allows you to interact with industry leaders, university professors, and mentors. Research topics for 2024 included extreme weather conditions, software engineering, detecting tick-borne infections and cancers, ML workflow, quantum, data engineering and AI, and more.

10. Texas Tech University’s Anson L. Clark Scholars Program

Location: Honors College, Lubbock, TX.

Cost/Stipend: No cost; Students will receive a $750 stipend upon successful completion of the research project report.

Application Deadline: Applications typically close in February.

Dates: June 16 - August 1.

Eligibility: Open to applicants who are at least 17 years of age by the program start date, are participating in the summer before or after senior year of high school, and U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

The Anson L. Clark Scholars Program allows high school students to gain research experience under the mentorship of Texas Tech faculty. Although it is not a traditional internship, the program provides an opportunity for independent research exploration. This program offers the flexibility to incorporate AI and its applications within computer science. This includes areas such as virtual and augmented reality, big data visualization, visual analytics, statistical data analysis, data-intensive computing, computer architectures, and systems software. Additionally, research areas in Mechanical Engineering or Electrical and Computer Engineering involve applications of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and robotics. For tips on how to get into this program, you can find advice from the Dean of Texas Tech here!

11. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Internships

Location: Varies from lab to lab.

Cost/Stipend: No cost; Unpaid.

Application Deadline: Applications typically close in February.

Dates: June 17 - August 9. 

Eligibility: Applicants must be U.S. citizens, be juniors or seniors in high school during the application period, and have a minimum GPA of 3.0.

The Summer High School Intern Program by NIST is a program for students who have finished their junior or senior year of high school and demonstrate an interest in scientific research. In this program, you will work with NIST staff scientists and engineers on a specific research topic. You can choose to intern at one of these 6 NIST laboratories. If you are interested in AI and computer science, you can choose the Information Technology Lab, where you will work on tasks such as computer network modeling, biometrics for computer access and security, cryptography, computer forensics, software quality testing, digital data retrieval and preservation, bioinformatics, data mining, machine learning, information visualization, and image analysis. 

One other option - Lumiere Research Scholar Program

If you would like to participate in a rigorous research program open to high schoolers, you should also consider applying to the Lumiere Research Scholar Program, a selective online high school program for students founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. Last year, we had over 4000 students apply for 500 spots in the program! You can find the application form here.

Also check out the Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation, a non-profit research program for talented, low-income students.

Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a PhD student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.

Image Source: NIST logo