Who we are.

Reality Defender is an award-winning cybersecurity company helping enterprises and governments detect deepfakes and AI-generated media. Utilizing a patented multi-model approach, Reality Defender is robust against the bleeding edge of generative platforms producing video, audio, imagery, and text media. Reality Defender's API-first deepfake detection platform empowers teams and developers alike to identify fraud, disinformation campaigns, and harmful deepfakes in real time.

Backed by world class investors including DCVC, Illuminate Financial, Y Combinator, Booz Allen Hamilton, IBM, Accenture, Rackhouse, and Argon VC, Reality Defender works with leading enterprise clients, financial institutions, and governments in order to ensure AI-generated media is not used for malicious purposes.

Youtube: Reality Defender Wins RSA Most Innovative Startup

The Applied Scientist Internship.

The 3-month internship is designed for current PhD students and candidates to partner with Reality Defender's AI team to conduct cutting-edge research and publish peer-reviewed papers. Your primary collaborators will be Surya Koppisetti and Yi Zhu, who will guide and advise your efforts within multi-modal deepfake detection. This internship can be performed remotely, although you're welcome to work from our HQ in New York City.

What you'll do.

• Investigate and propose new methods for detecting generative multi-modal content, spanning audio and vision modalities.

• Perform research on multi-modal deepfake detection and reasoning tasks.

• Collaborate with researchers in the team.

• Write up results of research for internal reports and submission to academic journals/workshops.

• Independently implement and evaluate ideas on modern deep learning stack - Python, PyTorch, and GPU-enabled cloud compute, like AWS/GCP.

Who you are.

• PhD student in a relevant technical field, preferably three or more years into the program

• Experience in multi-modal learning, such as in audio-visual classification and audio-language reasoning.

• Proficient in Python and in building deep learning models with PyTorch.

• Published peer-reviewed research papers in reputable AI and speech venues, e.g. CVPR, NeurIPS, ACL, Interspeech.

• Excited about Reality Defender's mission to build a best-in-class and comprehensive deepfake and AI-generated content detection platform.

• Available to start in Spring 2026, for a minimum duration of 3 months.

What we offer.

Reality Defender offers the following benefits to all our employees, regardless of location:

• Healthcare plans with 100% premium coverage for employees and partial coverage available for dependents

• Dental and Vision plans with 100% premium coverage for employees and their dependents

• Short/Long-term disability and life insurance plans with 100% premium coverage for employees

• FSA/HSA and 401k programs

• Equity compensation

• 20 days of PTO per year

• 12 weeks of Parental Leave

• Learning and Development budget

• Monthly wellness benefits

• Annual company-sponsored offsite

For employees working from Reality Defender’s HQ in NYC, we offer the following benefits:

• Daily in-office lunch through UberEats

• Commuter benefits

• Remote Fridays

• Happy Hours and other local events