What it’s really like to intern at an AI startup in Barcelona

As summer interns at BRACAI, we stepped into the fast-moving world of AI consulting, where buzzwords turn into business tools and every week brings a new challenge.

We will share what we worked on, what we learned, and what it’s like to intern at an AI startup in Barcelona.

Who we are 

This summer at BRACAI, we had the opportunity to contribute to projects and gain valuable professional experience in an international environment.

We worked in a hybrid setup, combining home-office flexibility with regular meetups in co-working spaces.

Although we come from different countries and academic backgrounds, we share an enthusiasm for learning, collaboration, and making the most of our time in Barcelona.

Below, we introduce ourselves.

Ine Ervik

• Age: 25 years 

• Nationality: Norwegian  

• Education: Norwegian School of Economics (2020-2025), Prague University of Economics and Business (spring 2025), ESADE (spring 2022), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (2019)

• Interest/hobbies: Reading any crime book in my Kindle at the beach in Barcelona, or climbing any mountain in Norway  

Francisco Miguel

• Age: 22 years 

• Nationality: Portuguese

• Education: Iscte School of Technology and Architecture (2021-2024), TBS Barcelona (2024-2026)

• Interest/hobbies: Playing beach volleyball in Barcelona, doing sports, visiting different places and meeting new people

Ingrid Oliva Sandblåst Hoem

• Age: 26 years 

• Nationality: Norwegian  

• Education: Norwegian School of Economics (2020-2025), Bocconi University (fall 2023), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (2019-2020), EF Language School Barcelona

• Interest/hobbies: Enjoying Barcelona’s best local beaches and a glass of Tinto de verano    

Why we joined BRACAI

Ine Ervik

I joined BRACAI because I believe AI is the future and already plays a big part in business and society. I wanted to gain practical skills and a deeper understanding of the topic. My interest started during my studies at NHH, where I took AI courses and later wrote my master’s thesis on trust in AI, specifically ChatGPT.

I have always wanted to work in a startup, where you get to wear many hats, move fast, and contribute across the whole business.

Francisco Miguel 

I joined BRACAI because I believe AI is the future, and I imagined the impact I could make by being part of the company.

I am passionate about IT and love solving problems. BRACAI felt like a perfect match, as it offers me the chance to deepen my knowledge of AI and apply it daily through a wide range of tasks and projects.

Working in a startup is extremely rewarding, as it helps me develop skills across many different fields.

Ingrid Oliva Sandblåst Hoem

I joined BRACAI because it combines three things I’m passionate about: consulting, Barcelona, and AI. I wanted to build on my consulting experience, return to a city I had lived in and loved, and deepen my knowledge of AI.

My interest in AI began when I took a Digital Business Transformation course at Bocconi, which sparked my curiosity and later led me to write my master’s thesis on trust in AI. I wanted to join a startup specializing in AI to both learn as much as possible and experience firsthand how a fast-moving company operates.

Our BRACAI journey

Ine Ervik

During our time at BRACAI, we were exposed to real, hands-on work across different areas of the business. I built and tested custom GPTs and AI agents, contributed to an AI workshop, helped define our value offer and worked on a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for a lead, to only mention some. I also supported internal topics as well as marketing (e.g. social media posts and blog articles).

The internship gave me a chance to explore how AI can be applied in practice while also learning how different parts of a startup come together.

Looking from a bird's-eye view, I gained knowledge about tons of AI tools (some which I hadn’t even heard of before). Also, I learned more about how it is to work in a fast-paced company where there are constantly things to do, making the workday go by in a blink of an eye and the learning curve increase exponentially. 

Francisco Miguel 

In my first months at BRACAI, I worked with the team to design and deliver various AI workshops, learning a great deal along the way. Later, I was entrusted with my first solo project in n8n (under supervision) for a client. It was a fascinating challenge that allowed me to put my studies into practice.

At the same time, I regularly handled smaller daily tasks such as conducting research, writing blog articles and posts, providing feedback to colleagues, and many other contributions.

Ingrid Oliva Sandblåst Hoem

In my first two weeks of the internship at BRACAI, I prepared an AI workshop on how to make meetings more effective, which received great feedback. For most of the internship, I contributed to the redesign of our website. This involved putting the client at the center, defining what we are selling, identifying the needs we aim to meet, and shaping the customer strategy. It was an engaging process that taught me a lot about strategy, positioning, and how to communicate value effectively.

Along the way, I explored new AI tools, learned practical prompting techniques, and got a better sense of how AI can be applied in real business contexts. The experience also gave me a taste of working in a fast-paced environment where priorities shift quickly, and I enjoyed the steep learning curve that came with it. 

Our highlight of the summer internship

Ine Ervik

My proudest achievement is building an email scraper agent. In one click, the agent can search any area desired in Google Maps for any business wanted, and return emails from this search, which later can be used for marketing purposes such as outreach strategies. Learning how to build an AI agent that can effectively do manual work in seconds was very cool. 

Francisco Miguel 

The highlight of my internship was working with n8n, building automations and AI agents to improve efficiency of company processes. These ranged from generating documents from meeting notes and sending summaries by email, to updating a database in real time with custom knowledge, enabling it to answer questions as if it were an AI specialist on those documents.

I am also proud of the progress I made in strengthening skills that were less developed when I started.

Ingrid Oliva Sandblåst Hoem

My proudest achievement is contributing to the new website design. The goal was to create a site that puts the client at the center, clearly communicates our value proposition and reflects the needs we aim to meet. Learning how to combine strategy, design and messaging to build a website that effectively showcases the business was both challenging and rewarding.

Our favorite AI tool

Ine Ervik

Although I want to say ChatGPT with all its functions, I will choose a feature of ChatGPT to be a little more concrete: Sora. Sora generates realistic and imaginative images and videos from text descriptions. My first meeting with Sora was creating a profile picture of a business woman, and I was amazed at how real the woman looked, and that it only took a couple of minutes before the picture was good-to-go. 

Even though Sora is very impressive in its output, you need to be specific in your inputs to get what you desire. Clear, specific prompts lead to richer visuals and stronger narrative flow. I advise you to add cinematic touch and visual atmosphere in your prompt. 

Francisco Miguel 

ChatGPT might be a favorite for almost everyone, but as an IT enthusiast, I wouldn’t pick an AI tool itself as my favorite. Instead, I’d choose something that powers many AI tools: APIs. They’re my favorite because they can connect different AI systems and enable powerful automations.

Ingrid Oliva Sandblåst Hoem

My favorite AI tool is Fireflies, which is perfect for recording meetings. It automatically provides a transcription, audio file, text file and meeting summary, so you don’t have to worry about taking notes during the conversation.

Final reflections: Intern at an AI startup

From building AI agents to preparing workshops, our summer at BRACAI gave us a front-row seat to how AI is moving from hype to impact.

We hope this glimpse into our experiences sparks interest in working in AI or at a startup. If you want to intern at an AI startup in Barcelona, we can confirm it will be a fun and interesting journey with a steep learning curve.

Feel free to reach out if you want to be an intern at an AI startup, learn more about our experiences, or have any questions.