The Center for Humans & Machines conducts interdisciplinary science, to understand, anticipate, and shape major disruptions from digital media and Artificial Intelligence to the way we think, learn, work, play, cooperate and govern.

The Center for Humans and Machines (CHM) at the Max-Planck-Institute for Human Development in Berlin seeks Applicants for Voluntary Internships (39,00 hours/week)
Internships will last between 6-12 weeks and start from July 21, 2025.

Internship topics include:

• Reinforcement Learning on Human Teaching
  Design AI that supports human learning; requires Python and interest in human-AI interaction.
• Internal Representations of Emotions in LLMs
  Use interpretability tools to probe how LLMs encode emotions; requires Python and ML basics.
• Elderbot: AI to Combat Loneliness
  Help build and test a mobile AI agent for older adults; ideal for those with app dev or survey design skills.
• LLM- vs Human-Generated Options in Moral Judgment
  Run online experiments on moral decision-making; useful skills: Python, oTree, or Qualtrics.
• Observatory of Collective Experience
  Develop a web platform for sharing stories with AI; suited for web dev and LLM fine-tuning experience.

• Availability at 39 hours/week for the duration of the internship (depending on the project)
• Currently enrolled in a program at a German university related to the project(s)
• Attendance at the institute in Berlin (no remote working)

• Get hands-on experience with research on human-AI interaction and scientific processes
• Close collaboration with CHM researchers
• Possibility of transitioning to position of Student Research Assistant
• Salary: 450€ / month (39 h/week)