The Rise of the AI Intern: My Personal Journey with AI in 2024

As CTO and Chief AI Architect at F’inn, my job relies on understanding the AI landscape and testing out all sorts of AI-based tools. In 2024, I’ve found myself in a relationship with a few tools in what I’ve come to think of as my perpetually eager, occasionally quirky, and remarkably capable AI intern (whose work I still need to check, just like its human counterparts). Like any good mentor, I’ve watched my many-headed digital apprentice grow from handling basic tasks to becoming an indispensable partner in both mundane and complex activities. Here’s how this relationship has changed my work and thinking in many significant ways in 2024.

1. The Doggy Documentation Revolution: Perhaps the most important development of 2024 has been the AI’s ability to accommodate my desire to include relevant pictures of my dogs in everything. Like a patient design intern who understands that every presentation is better with a perfectly placed puppy, it’s revolutionized how we think about bespoke imagery. Who knew that data reports could be both informative and adorable? (Tools: DALL-E3, Flux)
2. The Relentless Research Assistant: Gone are the days of Boolean search operators and endless tab management. My AI intern approaches internet searches with the enthusiasm of a graduate student who’s had exactly the right amount of coffee. It doesn’t just find information; it synthesizes it, presenting comprehensive analyses while maintaining the context I need. The way we find information together has been nothing short of revolutionary. (Tools: ChatGPT search, Perplexity AI)
3. The Perpetual Student and Teacher: In a role reversal, this intern simultaneously learns and teaches. Whether I’m puzzling over the intricacies of neural network architectures or trying to understand why basketball referees make certain calls (the refs are biased against Steph Curry, he never gets the call!), it provides clear, patient explanations without judgment. It’s like having a friend who’s read every textbook in detail but never makes you feel inadequate for asking “basic” questions. (Tools: ChatGPT, Google Gemini)
4. The Code Commander: In terms of programming, my AI intern has become a necessary programming partner. I can’t code well, but I have lots of ideas. My AI intern doesn’t just write code; it understands my often abstract and sometimes confused vision of what I want to achieve. The ability to iterate through ideas, debug with some insight, and translate conceptual goals into functional code has changed how I approach software development. We’ve created many cool professional and personal projects together. (Tools: Claude, o1)
5. The Data Scholar: Data analysis has evolved from a structured, methodical process to an intuitive dialogue. Through Python scripting and visualization, my AI intern helps me uncover insights hidden within datasets, approaching each analytical challenge with both rigor and creativity. It’s like having a statistician who’s also a gifted storyteller ready to digest any dataset and start analyzing. We can take analysis deeper, more quickly than I can on my own. (Tools: ChatGPT)
6. The Persona Party: Perhaps the most entertaining capability of my AI intern is its ability to slip into any role with the commitment of an improv performer. Need to perfect a sales pitch? It becomes a skeptical buyer who asks surprisingly insightful questions. Want to understand marine biology? It transforms into an enthusiastic octopus explaining the finer points of distributed intelligence. It’s like having access to an entire theater company ready to help you explore ideas from every possible angle. (Tools: PersonafAI)
7. The Voice of Reason: Initially skeptical about voice interactions, I’ve found myself appreciating the convenience of verbal exchanges with my AI intern. It’s particularly useful when I have a quick question or when I need to think aloud through complex problems. The experience has become surprisingly natural, like having a colleague in the next room who’s always ready to help (and provides a perfect transcript of our chat afterwards). (Tools: ChatGPT, Google Gemini)
8. The Knowledge Architect: In the domain of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) and Knowledge Graphs, my AI intern excels at constructing meaningful connections between diverse pieces of information. It analyzes academic papers and qualitative transcripts with the thoroughness of a devoted research assistant, creating sophisticated knowledge structures that reveal previously hidden relationships and patterns. (Tools: Claude, GraphRAG)
9. The Content Curator: Through tools like Google’s NotebookLM, my AI intern has transformed how I consume and process information as podcasts. It’s like having a brilliant summarizer who knows exactly what I’ll find most relevant and interesting, making dense content more accessible and actionable. (Tools: NotebookLM)
10. The Automation Ally: From Excel macros to Linux scripts, my AI intern has become an automation wizard, crafting elegant solutions to streamline repetitive tasks, many of which I dread doing myself. It approaches each automation challenge with the enthusiasm of someone who genuinely enjoys making processes more efficient, saving countless hours of manual work. (Tools: ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini)

This AI intern represents an evolution in human-AI collaboration — unlike traditional interns who eventually move on to other opportunities, this one continues to learn, adapt, and grow while maintaining unwavering reliability and enthusiasm for our work together. It’s a partnership that highlights both the practical and creative aspects of the advancement of AI, transforming how we work while keeping the human element firmly at the center of the experience.

As we continue this journey into 2025, I’m increasingly convinced that the true innovation isn’t just in the technology itself, but in how it enables us to be more creative, productive, and yes, even more humorous in our professional endeavors. After all, who wouldn’t want an intern who’s equally comfortable discussing complex neural networks and creating the perfect puppy pic for your next presentation?