Interview #86 Carter Huffman, CTO of Modulate

Carter Huffman, CTO of Modulate, breaks down why voice AI keeps failing in production despite years of "solved" transcription claims. He explains the "transcript trap" that fools dev teams into shipping voice agents that crumble on real calls, why bigger language models actually make latency worse, and how ensemble approaches with smaller specialized models outperform monolithic systems. Carter also dives into the explosion of deepfake voice fraud - including the $25M Hong Kong heist - and why passive monitoring plus red teaming are now essential to a modern voice security stack. Finally, he shares why even Gen Z still defaults to voice for high-stakes issues, and what contact centers must get right over the next three years to build genuine trust with callers.