Internship/Placement - GNAT DAS: AI Automated Fuzz Testing Workflows in Bath

AdaCore is centered around helping developers build safe, secure and reliable software. For 30 years, we have partnered with global leaders in aerospace & defense, air traffic management, space, railway and financial services. We have developed tools and services simplifying high-integrity software development through a subscription-based model. As demand for secure applications grows in industries like automotive, medical, energy, and IoT, we are adapting our proven technologies to assist a new generation of developers.

Developed at AdaCore, the GNAT DAS tool suite includes GNATfuzz, an advanced fuzz testing solution for Ada applications. GNATfuzz was designed to utilize multiple backend fuzz testing solutions, including AFL++, and includes advanced branch-solving algorithms like RedQueen and Symbolic Execution. GNATfuzz targets and finds bugs in Ada applications and linked C and C++ libraries. GNATfuzz for C is also in development, and GNATfuzz for C++ will follow shortly after. The next phase in the evolution of this state-of-the-art automated software testing solution is to explore the benefits of AI and LLMs to provide users with powerful insights and automated workflows, ultimately helping them find bugs in their software faster.

The key component of this internship is utilizing AI; AdaCore would like to understand better AI's benefits over more traditional forms of static analysis. Candidates for this position should have a strong interest in automated dynamic analysis verification and a good understanding of large language models (LLMs) and other AI components. A good working knowledge of Ada, C, and Python is essential. Experience with static parsing language tools like Libclang is highly beneficial.

Goals

The internship goal is to advance the state of the art in automated fuzz testing by integrating AI components into AdaCore's fuzz testing solution: GNATfuzz. This is then split into 2 phases—a research phase and an integration/implementation phase; the number of applicable activities for both phases will depend on the length of the internship and the results of the first phase.

• Goal 1: Rapid Prototyping of AI integration and assessment, for example, we might:

• Investigate the benefits of corpus generation via AI.
• Perform a benchmark comparison of AI vs compiler-generated objects.
• Generate interesting values for solving complex branch conditions.
• Investigate the benefits of using AI to provide insights into a function signature for a C application.
• Identify pointers to scalar objects and pointers to buffers.
• Group buffer pointers and size components.
• Investigate the benefits of using AI to develop an advanced automated project fuzzing workflow.

• Goal 2: Targeted feature integration, for example, we might:

• Integrate the most interesting/beneficial feature into the GNATfuzz product.
• Use an LLM to generate a diverse set of valid and boundary-case inputs for a target application.
• Create an intelligent system that can analyze large projects and decide what subprograms to fuzz and in what order.
• Use AI to interpret C/C++ function signatures to make fuzzing more effective.

Skills required/nice to have:

• Experience/interest in fuzz testing or other forms of dynamic analysis and/or compilation (GCC or LLVM).
• Good programming skills in Python and C (or Ada).
• Experience/interest in language interfaces (i.e., libclang).
• Solid understanding and interest in LLMs and other primary aspects of AI.

Timeframe & Location: During 2026 - 6 to 9 months - Bristol office.

Beyond the job: We are a global organization driven by diverse backgrounds, fostering innovation through an open exchange of ideas. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, celebrating diversity in ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, religion, abilities, sexual orientation, veteran or marital status. Our commitment is to help our teammates feel comfortable and satisfied, by encouraging flexibility to ensure them a healthy work-life balance. Additionally, we prioritize individual development by offering continuous training from day one with a personalized onboarding plan.