AIML Resident - Machine Learning Research

Job Description:

Imagine what you could do here! At Apple, great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Combining groundbreaking machine learning research with next-generation hardware, our teams take user experiences to the next level.
Apple's AIML Residency is a year-long program inviting experts in various fields to apply their own domain expertise to innovate and build revolutionary machine learning and AI-based products and experiences. As AI-based solutions spread across fields, the need for domain experts to understand machine learning and apply their expertise in ML settings grows. Residents will have the opportunity to attend ML and AI courses, learn from an Apple mentor closely involved in their program, collaborate with fellow residents, gain hands-on experience working on high-impact projects, publish in premier academic conferences, and partner with Apple teams across hardware, software, and services. Modern large language models (LLMs) show impressive abilities on a variety of tasks. However, despite their increasing deployment in real-life scenarios, LLMs essentially remain 'a black box system' with a lot of unknowns still remaining about their internal mechanisms. We're a team of ML researchers interested in LLM interpretability, reasoning, and decision-making under uncertainty. Given the complex nature of modern LLMs, we believe progress on these questions in the ML domain can be made through an interdisciplinary collaboration with researchers exploring similar questions in the human brain. We are looking for PhD or above-level candidates whose research combines computational and statistical methods with a focus on information processing, decision making, reasoning or related questions in a human-centered field (e.g., cognitive science, neuroscience, linguistics or related subject areas).
Proficiency in a programming language such as Python, Objective-C, C++, Swift, and/or R. Candidates should have experience completing a moderate-sized software project Demonstrated ability to connect and collaborate with others Graduate degree in a STEM field or equivalent industry experience in software engineering Apple's AIML residency is a one-year program starting in July 2026. Residents must be available to work full-time (40 hours/week) July 13, 2026 - July 9, 2027. Additionally, applicants who are currently enrolled in a degree program must graduate before this program commences on July 13, 2026
Ideal candidates will also have academic, research, or industry experience in one of the following: Cognitive science, Behavioral Science, Linguistics, Psychology, Neuroscience, or related fields. Thesis, capstone project, internship, co-op, and/or proven experience in these fields qualifies We encourage you to submit a cover letter as part of your application explaining: What are your research interests? How do they apply to the specific Residency position you applied to? Why would you would like to join the AIML residency program broadly? APPLICATION DEADLINE: DECEMBER 15, 2025