Artificial Intelligence Specialty Intern

About the Role

The Artificial Intelligence Project Intern will join a specialized cohort focused on building AI products and processes that improve the NBA’s league and commercial operations. As part of a core project team managed by NBA AI and technology leaders, this intern will support the NBA in using AI, including agentic solutions, across fan experience, basketball operations, player health and enterprise applications. The goal is to transform workflows, improve efficiency and raise the quality of work. This role is designed for students who demonstrate strong interest and experience in technology, engineering, artificial intelligence, business consulting, and data-driven problem solving. This role requires interns to demonstrate a foundational mastery of AI technologies in driving project execution and achieving business objectives. Major priority areas will include the application of Artificial Intelligence to fan experience, basketball operations, player health, and other business areas as needed.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify areas where AI can improve business processes and enterprise applications across the organization
• Develop and test AI-enabled prototypes that address operational needs across multiple business and basketball functions
• Support end-to-end development cycles, including problem definition, data acquisition, model creation, evaluation, and stakeholder demo
• Translate business needs into AI/ML solution frameworks under guidance from AI and data governance leaders
• Work within a project team to maintain quality, alignment, and responsible AI practices
• Evaluate and determine new AI use case implementation for current workflows or emerging initiatives
• Document methodologies, workflows, and findings to ensure transferability and scale

Projects are confirmed each spring based on league priorities. 2027 projects are expected to fall within five areas:

• Enterprise Applications: Building agentic and AI solutions that redesign workflows across league office functions such as Finance, Communications, Events, HR, Legal and IT.
• Basketball Operations & Research: Building visual outputs for basketball, media and fans and supporting analytics for officiating, scheduling and game operations.
• Player Health: Building tools that help medical and performance staff support league-wide biomechanics and player-health data programs.
• Fan Experience: AI-powered personalization, recommendations and assistants across NBA platforms.
• Data Intelligence & Platform Analytics: Building data pipelines, retrieval and search over NBA data, and AI-assisted reporting and dashboards.

Requirements & Tech Stack

Technical Skills & Knowledge Attributes

• Currently enrolled in a bachelor's degree (rising seniors) or a graduate degree in AI, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Statistics or a related field
• Working knowledge of Python and SQL
• Has built at least one AI-powered app or automation, through coursework, personal projects, research or hackathons
• Understands how large language models work, including their limits
• Familiar with APIs, Git and software testing, and able to explain and check code written with AI coding assistants
• Handles data and access securely
• Strong communication skills, including explaining technical work to non-technical audiences
• Works well in a team and can manage several priorities at once

Qualifications

Education & Professional Experience

• Currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s (rising Seniors only) or graduate level degree in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Statistics, or related field
• Relevant coursework, projects, or experience with AI tools or ML techniques
• Prior internship or hands-on project experience in technology or applied AI preferred
• Strong academic standing and demonstrated leadership through extracurricular or community experience, consistent with NBA internship criteria

Preferred Experience

• Building AI agents or multi-step workflows, including tool calling, MCP or reusable skills
• Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and search over source material
• AI coding and development tools, such as Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Amazon Bedrock or Microsoft Copilot Studio
• Testing and measuring AI quality, such as accuracy, speed and cost
• Product design and building user interfaces for AI tools
• For basketball or player health projects: computer vision, 3D or game engines (e.g., Unreal Engine), or sensor data
• A prior internship or project in technology or applied AI

Salary Range:

• Undergraduate: $32/hr
• Graduate: $40/hr