Came across this job posting for a Machine Learning Research Intern at a biomedical AI company in Toronto, and I genuinely had to laugh.

The requirements include:

• In-depth knowledge of Transformers
• Time-to-event analysis
• Clinical EHR data (clinical notes, labs, flowsheets, disease outcomes)
• Medical imaging (histopathology, MRI, CT, radiology)
• Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, MONAI
• Foundation models and large-scale pretraining
• Agentic AI systems
• A master's or PhD in a relevant field
• Ideally, publications and experience with multi-institutional datasets

And what is the compensation for this full-time, 12-month position?

$32–35/hour.

I understand that not every bullet point means you need to be an expert in everything, and I get that research internships are not supposed to pay like senior scientist positions.

But seriously, if you genuinely need expertise spanning deep learning research, survival analysis, clinical informatics, medical imaging, and foundation models, why is this classified and compensated as an intern position?

Are companies just throwing every buzzword they can think of into one job description and hoping someone with a PhD will accept an entry-level salary?

Am I being unreasonable here, or is this a pretty significant mismatch between the expectations and the compensation?

Link here in case you are curious: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4483262099/

Seeking software and machine learning engineers for remote contract work (up to $150+ USD/hr) designing, debugging, and evaluating coding tasks that test and train frontier AI models.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:
• Stress-test AI-generated Python, C++, and algorithmic code against tricky boundary conditions and edge cases where models fail
• Audit implementations for algorithmic efficiency (Big-O), numerical stability, memory usage, and clean architecture
• Write working reference code and detailed technical critiques explaining the defects

DETAILS:
• Type of work: Freelance/contract for Data Annotation Tech
• Pay: Up to $150+ USD/hr paid via PayPal
• How it works: Pick projects from your dashboard suited to your skills/interests, submit the time it took after completing each task, and withdraw funds a week later (100% self-paced)
• Qualification: One-time online coding assessment required before onboarding

WHO THIS FITS:
• Production software/ML engineering experience, or an advanced CS / ML graduate background
• Fluent in Python, C++, TypeScript, Go, Rust, Java, or C#
• Comfortable analyzing data structures, time/space complexity, and explaining code tradeoffs clearly in English

HOW TO APPLY:
Onboarding requires passing a one-time coding assessment. Because you only get a single attempt and experienced engineers often get tripped up by how the written explanations are graded, I'm happy to share a quick breakdown of what the graders look for along with the direct application for the programming track.

If you're interested (and don't already have an account on the platform), send me a DM with:
1. Your country of residence
2. Your SWE/MLE experience & degree
3. Your primary programming languages and tech stack
4. Your comfort level with data structures, algorithms, and Big-O analysis
5. ~Hours per week available

Please reply "DM Sent" below after messaging me so I know to check my message requests.