Cohere For AI is a hybrid research lab with a focus on tackling complex machine-learning challenges. We are strong advocates for the notion that the brightest minds are dispersed worldwide and that groundbreaking innovations often arise from unconventional paths. Today, we are excited to open applications for the third cohort of our Cohere For AI Scholars Program, designed to help change where, how, and by whom research is done.

In 2023 and 2024, we’ve been proud to run the first two cohorts of the Cohere For AI Scholars Program to help close the gap between research experience and opportunity. In this time, we have welcomed talented researchers from around the world to open-ended questions with our in-house research team. We are incredibly proud of the scientific contributions they have made during the program. Some examples of work from our most recent scholars program include multilingual preference optimization, the impact of redteaming synthetic data on LLMs, alignment efforts that address global and local harms, and the open weights release of state of the art multilingual models.

The field of machine learning is progressing at an astonishing rate. To foster new developments, it is crucial to broaden access and encourage participation in fundamental research. However, the current landscape presents challenges, with limited environments and resources available for investigating cutting-edge natural language processing (NLP) issues and conducting large-scale machine learning (ML) experiments. Our mission is to address these gaps and empower the next generation of rising stars as they venture into their research endeavors.

What is the Scholars Program?

The Scholars Program offers a unique opportunity to collaborate with renowned researchers and engineering experts, fostering a collective exploration of the unknown. This initiative creates an open and supportive environment, providing an alternative pathway into ML research. Our focus is on identifying emerging talent from diverse backgrounds worldwide. We will consider applicants regardless of whether or not they have previously been published.

If accepted into the Scholars Program, you will become part of a dedicated team comprising passionate researchers and industry experts. This immersive experience, spanning from January 6 to July 11, 2025, will pair you with a project proposal and mentor, facilitating your growth as a researcher. The program entails full-time, paid participation, providing scholars access to a large-scale experimental framework and world-class research mentors. This opportunity is full-time and paid, to reflect the intensity of the program, which does not exist in other labs. Through this initiative, we aim to advance our commitment to supporting responsible, fundamental research in machine learning while upholding good stewardship of open-source scientific practices.

If you are an aspiring NLP researcher and looking for an opportunity to develop your research skills, your journey starts here. To learn more about our mission, program specifics, and to stay up-to-date on the application process, check out our website and follow us on Twitter. Applications are due August 30, 2024.

Join us for an information session to answer all your questions about the Scholars Program! Register today for the session on August 16th at 11am ET - add the event to your calendar here.

About Cohere For AI

Cohere For AI launched in June 2022. We are a hybrid research lab and open science community dedicated to contributing fundamental research in machine learning, working to solve some of the field's most challenging problems. Our programs include our full-time research positions and lab, our open science initiatives supporting community-driven research across fundamental machine learning topics. Check out our recent blog post on 10 Ways C4AI Is Making an Impact, Two Years After Launching. We welcome anyone to apply to join our open science community.

Cohere For AI Scholars Program: Research Journeys Start Here