How to Build Your First AI Intern
The Easiest (and Most Tireless) Team Addition You’ll Ever Make
If you haven’t been a hermit for the past couple of years, you’ve heard it all:
“AI will supercharge your team.”
“AI will make you ten times more productive.”
“AI will take care of the boring stuff so you can “focus on what matters.”
But after all the demos, most of us are still... using ChatGPT. (And wondering what to do with all those other models we keep reading about.)
That’s not your fault. The whole world’s been thinking about AI the wrong way. We’re still treating it like a fancy calculator or a party trick, when the real opportunity is to build your own digital teammate.
The Shift
Building an AI intern isn’t about writing clever prompts, or hoping you picked the right LLM for the job. It’s about designing a simple system or your own operating model for digital busywork, so your intern knows what to do, learns the ropes, and uses the right tools for each task (even if that means mixing and matching the best models for the job).
Most people get stuck at the “prompt and pray” stage. But if you want real leverage, you need to think like a manager, not just a user. Set the role, build the knowledgebase, define its memory, and let your digital intern handle the busywork, while you focus on making sure what gets out is right and doing the thing that only YOU can do.
The best bit? You don’t have to settle for just one model. When you design your system right, you can delegate tasks to the smartest LLM for each job. Imagine an intern who knows when to ask the research whiz, the copywriting ace, or the data nerd without you ever switching tabs.
The Juice
So, how do you actually build an AI intern instead of another chat window that echoes your prompts back at you?
Here’s your “AI Intern Onboarding” cheat sheet:
Challenge:
Build and deploy one AI intern this week. Share your best (or weirdest) outcome, and you might get a zesty shout-out in the next edition. Try building one on launchlemonade.app
You don’t need to wait for some mythical “fully autonomous agent” to start seeing results. Building your first AI intern is less like hiring a genius and more like onboarding a keen junior. Start small, give them clear guardrails, and watch how quickly they grow into the role.
Will they mess up sometimes? Absolutely.
Will they do your admin with zero attitude and infinite patience? Even better.
This week’s challenge:
Pick one nagging task, follow the cheat sheet, and build your first digital intern. When you realise you never want to chase another overdue invoice again, you’ll know you’re onto something.
And if you do end up building a whole team of lemony-fresh AI interns?
Well, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
All the Zest 🍋
Cien