Intern, AI Research in Boston, Massachusetts at IDC

About the Role & Team

IDC is seeking a summer intern to join the AI, Data, and Automation team and help develop original, high-impact research on artificial intelligence and adjacent ADA topics. This is a hands-on opportunity to study AI while also using AI as part of the research process through strong writing, analytical rigor, and practical experimentation with tools such as OpenAI Codex or Anthropic Claude Code. The intern will contribute across multiple research efforts as priorities evolve. The role includes testing ideas, building lightweight prototypes, analyzing data, and creating visualizations, but it also requires the foundational work behind strong research: source gathering, literature reviews, data cleanup, fact-checking, quality control, and organizing findings into reusable research assets.

What You’ll Do

• Support multiple concurrent research efforts across the AI, Data, and Automation team, with topics shifting based on team priorities and the evolving research agenda.
• Research important questions about artificial intelligence, data, and automation, including model capabilities, enterprise adoption, agentic workflows, developer tooling, and workflow transformation.
• Use artificial intelligence-assisted coding tools such as Codex or Claude Code to accelerate research tasks, build small prototypes, and help establish repeatable AI-assisted research workflows.
• Design and execute lightweight experiments, structured comparisons, literature reviews, and analyses that support distinctive points of view.
• Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using Python, spreadsheets, or similar tools; create charts, graphics, or simple dashboards that strengthen published research.
• Own foundational research support tasks such as source gathering, data cleaning, fact-checking, quality assurance, and organizing notes, evidence, and working files.
• Draft, edit, and refine memos, presentation materials, and publication-ready research in collaboration with senior analysts on the AI, Data, and Automation team.
• Background in business, economics, supply chain, or operations is a plus, particularly for research involving enterprise adoption, procurement workflows, or technoloty-driven process transformation.

Expected Deliverables

By the end of the internship, the intern should produce:

• One or more draft research briefs, report sections, or bylined contributions supporting priority artificial intelligence, data, or automation topics across the ADA agenda.
• A repeatable artificial intelligence-assisted research workflow that uses tools such as Codex or Claude Code to support analysis and writing.
• A small prototype, notebook, benchmark, or analytical artifact that tests a research question or supports a published argument.
• A set of clear data visualizations, charts, or simple dashboards ready for use in research notes, client presentations, or briefings.
• A short memo summarizing key findings, open questions, and next steps, along with organized source material, research notes, and cleansed supporting data the team can reuse.

What Success Looks Like

A successful intern will leave behind research inputs that improve the team’s ability to produce original, high-quality AI research across multiple ADA priorities. Success means being equally comfortable with ambitious experimentation and detail-oriented execution: using AI-enabled coding to surface insights and visuals, while also doing the source vetting, cleanup, documentation, and quality control that make the work credible and reusable.

What You Bring

• Current undergraduate or graduate student in computer science, data science, information science, economics, business, public policy, or a related field.
• Strong research, writing, and analytical skills, with the ability to translate technical ideas into clear and compelling prose.
• Hands-on experience coding with artificial intelligence-assisted development tools such as Codex, Claude Code, or comparable systems.
• Ability to work in Python, spreadsheets, JavaScript, or similar tools to analyze data, automate tasks, or build lightweight prototypes.
• Ideally, experience with data visualization and the ability to create clean charts, dashboards, or research graphics.
• Strong interest in artificial intelligence, large language models, agents, developer tools, enterprise software, data, and automation.
• Comfort handling ambiguity, shifting across research topics, and doing both exploratory and detail-oriented work in a fast-moving research environment.
• Ability to communicate findings clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

This role is expected to be in office, 3 to 4 days per week.

Why This Role Stands Out
At IDC, your work helps shape how the world understands technology and where it goes next. You collaborate with curious, high-caliber colleagues who value rigor, integrity, and shared success. As the premier global provider of trusted technology intelligence, IDC equips business and technology leaders with the evidence they need to make confident decisions. Our insights inform strategy, investment, and innovation across industries and regions.

Recognized by IIAR as Analyst Firm of the Year for five consecutive years, IDC sets the standard for credibility and impact. With more than 1,000 analysts worldwide and a truly global perspective, we combine deep expertise with practical relevance. Here, your ideas matter, your voice is heard, and your contributions provide the insights leaders rely on every day. It is meaningful work, backed by a culture that supports growth, collaboration, and long-term career development with a globally respected brand.

Compensation Transparency

At IDC, we are committed to fair and equitable pay practices. Employees are compensated equitably for their work, aligned with their skills and experience. Salary and incentive structures are determined through a rigorous process that considers experience, education, certifications, role-specific requirements, internal equity, and verified U.S. market data from an independent third-party partner.

Hourly wage range $25.00 - $35.00 depending on education and experience.

Equal Opportunity Employer

IDC is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified persons. Employment eligibility verification required. We participate in E-Verify.

IDC is currently able to employ remote workers in the following states: Arizona (AZ), California (CA), Colorado (CO), Connecticut (CT), Washington D.C. (DC), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Illinois (IL), Indiana (IN), Kansas (KS), Massachusetts (MA), Maryland (MD), Maine (ME), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Missouri (MO), Mississippi (MS), North Carolina (NC), New Hampshire (NH), New Jersey (NJ), New York (NY), Ohio (OH), Oregon (OR), Pennsylvania (PA), Rhode Island (RI), South Carolina (SC), Tennessee (TN), Texas (TX), Utah (UT), Virginia (VA), Vermont (VT), Washington (WA), and Wisconsin (WI).