Five AI Screening Platforms, One 500x Price Gap — Which Survives the 2026 Compliance Test?

In 2026, AI-powered screening has become essential for competitive hiring teams — but the regulatory stakes have never been higher. NYC Local Law 144, Colorado's AI Act, and the EU AI Act's August 2026 enforcement deadline are converging to reshape what "compliant" hiring AI actually looks like. And the platforms that built human-in-the-loop from day one are in a very different position than those that bolted it on later. We put five leading platforms head-to-head: OVI, HireVue, Paradox, Screenloop, and Sapia.ai. The pricing spread alone is striking — from $99 a month all the way to $50,000-plus a year. But the bigger story is about where the human sits in each workflow, and why that architectural decision is suddenly a compliance question, not just a product preference. In this episode, we break down what each platform does well, where the trade-offs are, and how to choose the right tool for your team in 2026 — without overspending on features you don't need.