Full-Time
PhD Research Intern
Posted on 9/25/2025
Fundamental Research Labs
11-50 employees
Autonomous digital human agents for AI
No salary listed
Menlo Park, CA, USA
In Person
Onsite in Menlo Park; 40+ hours/week; start/end dates flexible; startup hours apply.
 AI & Machine Learning (2) |
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- Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science (AI/ML, NLP, Robotics, etc.) or computational fields in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, etc.
- Demonstrated ability to design, implement, and evaluate experiments
- Strong publication record or evidence of impactful research contributions
- Startup-oriented mindset: excited by ambiguity, rapid iteration, and big ideas
- Explore new research directions in artificial intelligence, reinforcement learning, and multi-agent systems while working alongside a small, elite team of researchers and engineers
- Publish your work with the company in conferences and journals
- Publications at top conferences (ICML, ICLR, Neurips, UAI, RSS, CoRL, JMLR, TMLR, etc)
- Experience with large-scale distributed training or inference engines (e.g., DeepSpeed, vLLM, FSDP)
- Contributions to open-source projects in AI/ML or systems research
- Cross-disciplinary interests (e.g., neuroscience, human-computer interaction, generative media)
Fundamental Research Labs builds digital human agents through applied AI research. It creates autonomous agents capable of exhibiting human-like traits such as empathy, friendship, and fun, and makes them usable by individuals and enterprises. The first product is an agent that can play Minecraft with users, offering a friendly, interactive, and ongoing experience. The company scales infrastructure and advances research to support new technologies, and aims to deliver unique products to market. Its goal is to broaden what AI agents can do by making them more human-like and versatile, with a focus on interoperable, long-term autonomy.
Company Size
11-50
Company Stage
Series A
Total Funding
$45.1M
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
Founded
2023
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- $33M Series A led by Prosus enables team expansion in Menlo Park.
- Multi-agent systems advance rapidly for complex productivity tools.[2]
- Gaming origins like Minecraft agents expand to enterprise solutions.[6]
What critics are saying
- Microsoft Copilot integration into Excel commoditizes Shortcut within 12-24 months.[3]
- Fairies freemium fails to convert users against ChatGPT Plus in 12-18 months.[3]
- $40M funding lasts 18-24 months before Series B stalls.[2]
What makes Fundamental Research Labs unique
- Fundamental Research Labs builds digital humans with empathy, autonomy, and social intelligence.[1][2]
- Shortcut AI agent outperforms humans in Excel tasks using multi-agent systems.[1]
- Fairies provides general-purpose consumer AI assistant living on users' machines.[4]
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Benefits
Hybrid Work Options
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↓ -2%1 year growth
↑ 12%2 year growth
↑ 16%Altera, a South African biotech startup, has secured R29 million to advance its donor cell platform, aiming to revolutionize cell therapy by streamlining and democratizing access to treatments. This funding will help reduce manufacturing times, lower costs, and increase accessibility to cell-based therapies. The development could also indirectly boost medical tourism and health travel sectors. Altera's focus on quality and donor welfare sets a new industry standard.
SAN JOSE - Altera will cut 82 jobs in north San Jose, according to an official notice the tech company filed with the state Employment Development Department.
Prosus Ventures leads US$30 million in a Series A funding round in Fundamental Research Labs (formerly known as Altera.AL), an applied AI research company building long-term autonomous, collaborative AI agents, with participation from a16z Speedrun, Patron, First Spark, Factorial, VamosVentures, and angels including
Fundamental Research Labs, formerly known as Altera, secured $33 million in Series A funding led by Prosus, with participation from Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison. The company, founded by Dr. Robert Yang from MIT, focuses on AI applications across various fields and offers products like Fairies, an AI consumer assistant, and Shortcut, a spreadsheet-based agent. They aim to enhance productivity and plan to develop digital human technologies and robots in the future.
Prosus Ventures led a $30 million Series A funding round in Fundamental Research Labs, an AI research company focused on building autonomous, collaborative AI agents. The funding will help advance their research and expand their team. Fundamental Research Labs, co-founded by Dr. Robert Yang, has developed AI agents for complex tasks, including the Shortcut Excel agent, which outperformed human analysts in tests. This round follows a $9 million seed round, bringing total funding to over $40 million.