Machine Learning Intern - Master's

Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 63,000 - 89,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Internship pay (fixed hourly rate)

Job summary

Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. in San Mateo invites you to join the Game Service ML team as a Machine Learning Research Intern. You will explore multimodal AI using gameplay video, audio, and inputs to identify bugs during game development and testing, working with teams in San Mateo and London.

Under guidance from experienced researchers, you will design experiments, develop prototypes, and contribute ideas to ongoing research discussions, gaining hands-on experience in gaming AI.

Qualifications

• Pursuing a Master’s degree in CS, ML, EE, robotics, or related field.
• Strong foundation in machine learning, computer vision, or NLP.
• Proficiency in Python and ML libraries.
• Hands-on experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Strong problem-solving and collaborative research skills.
• Coursework or experience in multimodal AI or vision-language models is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Research and explore machine learning techniques to improve game scene representations for bug and glitch detection.
• Contribute to multimodal AI research that enhances automated QA in PlayStation environments.
• Design and conduct experiments to evaluate model performance and identify improvement opportunities.
• Develop and test prototypes applying AI approaches to real-world PlayStation challenges.
• Collaborate with researchers and engineers to share findings and incorporate feedback.
• Gain hands-on experience turning research ideas into working prototypes for gaming.

Skills

Machine Learning

Python programming

Data analysis

Education

Master's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Job description

Role Summary:

Join the Game Service ML team within PlayStation Global Research & Development (R&D) at Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) and gain hands‑on experience applying machine learning research to real‑world gaming challenges.

As a Machine Learning Research Intern, you'll explore how multimodal AI can use gameplay video, audio, and/or controller inputs to automatically identify bugs and glitches during game development, certification and compatibility testing. Your work will contribute to research that helps make game QA more efficient for developers and improve gaming experiences for millions of players.

Based in San Mateo, you'll work with the London-based Anomaly Detection focus team and have opportunities to collaborate with researchers and engineers in the San Mateo-based GameLens focus team. With guidance from experienced researchers, you'll take ownership of a focused research problem, explore new machine learning approaches, and gain practical experience turning research ideas into working prototypes.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Research and explore machine learning techniques, including contrastive learning, self-supervised learning and state space models, to improve game scene representations for bug and glitch detection.

• Contribute to multimodal AI research that improves how machine learning models understand gameplay and supports more effective automated QA.

• Design and conduct experiments to evaluate model performance, analyze results, and identify opportunities to improve anomaly and glitch detection.

• Develop and test prototypes that apply promising AI-based approaches to real-world challenges in PlayStation environments.

• Collaborate with researchers and engineers to share findings, incorporate feedback, and contribute ideas to ongoing research discussions.

• Gain hands‑on experience applying advanced machine learning methods to gaming, from exploring research questions and conducting experiments to developing working prototypes.

What We're Looking For:

• Currently pursuing a Master's degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field.

• Strong foundation in machine learning, computer vision, or natural language processing.

• Proficiency in Python programming and familiarity with modern ML libraries.

• Hands‑on experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.

• Strong problem‑solving skills, curiosity, and the ability to collaborate effectively as part of a research team.

• Coursework or prior experience in areas such as self‑supervised learning, contrastive learning, state‑space models, multimodal AI, or vision‑language models is a plus.

• Proficiency in data analysis, signal processing, or statistical modeling is desirable.

• Interest in audio, gaming, game engines, or the intersection of machine learning and game technology is highly desirable.

Eligibility

• Students with expected graduation between May 2026 and December 2029 from an accredited university. Advanced Degree - Master's

• Able to work during one of the following periods: May 17th - August 6th or June 14th - September 3rd. Relocation assistance is available for eligible candidates.

• Must be available for the entire 12‑week internship period.

At this time, SIE will only consider applicants who are authorized to work for any employer in the United States and who will not require work visa sponsorship from SIE now or in the future to maintain their authorization to work in the United States.

Our intern positions offer a fixed hourly pay rate. Please note that the pay rate is exclusive to the internship period and may not reflect what pay may look like following the completion of an internship.

At SIE, we consider several factors when setting each role's base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location. Please note that the base pay range may vary in line with our hybrid working policy and individual base pay will be determined based on job‑related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

Intern Pay Range

$55.25 - $55.25 USD

Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.

Please refer to ourCandidate Privacy Noticefor more information about what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your data protection rights.