Help shape the future of risk assessment and insurance in the age of AI. CITRIS and the Banatao Institute is seeking a research intern to join a collaborative project exploring how artificial intelligence, climate change and other global forces are transforming the insurance industry. Working with researchers at the IE Silicon Valley Hub at CITRIS, you’ll help develop and evaluate AI-agent workflows while contributing to strategic research at the intersection of technology, policy and emerging risk. This paid internship offers hands-on experience applying cutting-edge AI tools to a real-world challenge with global significance.
Project Overview
IE Silicon Valley Hub at CITRIS is seeking a research intern for a funded project on the Future of Insurance, sponsored by VIG, Vienna Insurance Group, and administered through IE SV Hub at CITRIS and the Banatao Institute. The role is structured as an internship beginning in fall 2026, with the possibility of continuation.
The work will be directed by Ikhlaq Sidhu, Senior Fellow at CITRIS and Dean of IE Sci-Tech Madrid, and co-supervised by Camille Crittenden, CITRIS Executive Director and Director of the CITRIS Tech Policy Initiative.
Research Focus
The project will use modern AI tools, especially AI agents, as part of the research and analysis process. The goal is to develop a predictive framework to understand how climate change, technological vectors, geopolitics, macroeconomic shifts, regulation, and other macro factors may reshape the insurance industry in the face of climate-related damage and natural disasters.
A central part of the work will be designing, testing, and improving agent-based research workflows. These workflows will be A/B tested to determine how AI agents can help produce a new kind of strategic consulting-style report: one that would have been difficult or impossible to create at this level of speed, breadth, and synthesis before today’s AI tools.
Responsibilities
- Research major trends affecting the insurance industry, including climate risk, technology, geopolitics, regulation, and macroeconomic change.
- Develop and test AI-agent workflows for research, synthesis, scenario analysis, and report generation.
- Run comparisons and A/B tests across agent workflows to improve quality, accuracy, and usefulness.
- Support the creation of predictive models, strategic analyses, presentations, and research outputs for the project team and sponsor.
Ideal Candidate
- Engineering student in the third year or beyond, or a master’s student with at least one year of relevant technical experience.
- Available to start in fall 2026 and commit approximately 10-20 flexible hours per week.
- Experience with OpenAI Codex, Claude, Claude Code, or similar AI-assisted research and development tools is highly desirable.
- Technically curious, comfortable learning new tools quickly, and interested in applying AI to real-world strategic research problems.
- Students may be graduates or undergraduates enrolled at any of the CITRIS campuses: UC Berkeley, Davis, Merced, and Santa Cruz.
Compensation and Commitment
This is a paid role starting at $25 per hour. Hours are flexible, with an expected commitment of 10-20 hours per week during the academic year. The role may continue for up to one year based on project needs and performance.
Contact
Prof. Ikhlaq Sidhu, Senior Fellow at CITRIS
Link to Apply