Cecilia Ziniti, former general counsel at Replit, leveraged early access to GPT to identify gaps in applying general-purpose AI to legal work. Her experience teaching ChatGPT for legal tasks revealed inaccuracies and unprofessional tone, prompting her to leave law and co-found GC AI with Bardia Pourvakil, an engineer from Replit. The startup builds AI tools tailored to corporate legal needs like accurate citations and document sourcing. Ziniti's legal background includes Amazon, Cruise, Anki, and Replit, where she first encountered AI through Amazon's Alexa in 2013. She believes her non-technical background makes her the ideal founder, as she deeply understands the customer pain points. GC AI aims to bridge the gap between broad AI models and the precision required in legal practice.

Ziniti noted that while general chatbots cover relevant legal issues, they often lack professional tone and reliable sourcing. This disconnect became a product roadmap for GC AI, which emphasizes accuracy, traceability, and industry-specific communication.

Pourvakil, who once considered Stanford Law School before choosing engineering, complements Ziniti's vision by building the technology. Together, they target legal teams needing reliable AI assistance for tasks like contract review and compliance.