Guests

Elliot Little, Product Manager, Zero Gravity
Dan St. Paul, Software Engineer, Zero Gravity

What we cover in this episode

Zero Gravity's mission: breaking down barriers to elite careers for disadvantaged UK students
The "knowing-doing gap"—why students struggle to act even when they know what to do
Why their first prototype (a job suitability summary) didn't create the "wow moment" they expected
The decision to use text chat over voice input and why guided prompts beat empty text boxes
Context management techniques: removing stale tool calls, summarizing history, exposing tools conditionally
Using different models for different tasks (GPT-5 Nano for structured outputs, lighter models for quick replies)
Safeguarding architecture: moderation endpoints plus external verification with Unitary
Building a failure taxonomy through internal red team/green team exercises
What's next: long-term memory management for multi-year student journeys

Links & References

Zero Gravity
Unitary – AI-powered content moderation
Blue Dot Impact AI Safety Course – free AI safety course Elliot recommended

Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Dan and Elliot 00:45 Zero Gravity's Mission and Impact 02:14 Introducing the AI Career Co-Pilot 04:01 Challenges Faced by Disadvantaged Students 06:49 Zero Gravity's Mentorship Program 09:14 Building the AI Career Co-Pilot 12:01 Early Prototypes and User Feedback 17:05 Refining the AI Career Co-Pilot 37:36 Introduction to Career Co-Pilot 38:02 Current Student Interactions 40:22 Technical Deep Dive 42:14 Context Management Challenges 44:43 Tool Call Optimization 51:48 Safeguarding and Moderation 57:52 Evaluating AI Performance 01:04:09 Future Directions for Career Co-Pilot 01:07:52 Concluding Thoughts

Building a Career Co-pilot for Disadvantaged Students: How Zero Gravity Bridges Knowing and Doing