Inside AssemblyAI's NYC voice agents January 2026 meetup: Production insights from the front lines

AssemblyAI's NYC meetup in January 2026 brought together over 100 voice AI builders to discuss production insights, industry challenges, and future trends in voice agent technology. The event highlighted a shift from speculative questions to practical solutions as speakers shared experiences with pipeline redundancy, voicemail detection failures, and the superior performance of female voices over male voices in production. Despite 87% of respondents having deployed voice agents, only 12% were satisfied with their solutions, prompting discussions on the importance of defining success metrics beyond technical perfection. The panel, featuring experts from companies like Aviary AI and Trellus, emphasized the need for purpose-built models and addressed common issues like voicemail detection errors and interruption handling. Looking ahead, consumer-driven demand is expected to accelerate the adoption of voice interfaces, with specialized models set to enhance performance in specific use cases.