Voice AI Is Listening. But Is It Actually Hearing? (Recorded Live at SXSW EDU 2026)

At this year's SXSW EDU, Owen joined a panel on what it takes to make voice AI for assessment work in classrooms.In this live recording of the session, the panelists untangle how voice AI works, and what testing this technology with kindergartners looks like in rural Georgia. They explain why the distinction between capturing what a student said versus what they meant matters enormously for literacy assessment and why questions of privacy, equity and model bias are not afterthoughts but design requirements.Where does voice AI genuinely open up new possibilities in education, and where is the evidence still thin? The other panelists were Patti Ura, Director of Learning Technology Research at Digital Promise, Amelia Kelly, VP of Data Science at Curriculum Associates and former CTO of Soapbox Labs, and Kristen Hoff, Head of Measurement at Curriculum Associates.Links:Soapbox Labs, now part of Curriculum Associates Digital Promise OpenAI Whisper, the open source speech-to-text modelJoin us on social media: BOLD (@BOLD_insights), Libby Hills (@Libbylhhills) and Owen Henkel (@owen_henkel)Listen to all episodes of EdTechnical here: https://boldscience.org/podcasts/edtechnical/Subscribe to BOLD’s newsletter: https://bold.expert/newsletterStay up to date with all the latest research on child development and learning: https://bold.expertCredits: Sarah Myles for production support; Josie Hills for graphic design; Pia Schmoeckel for content production.