AI Engineering/Phase 14/Lesson 22

Voice Agents: Pipecat and LiveKit

Voice agents are a first-class production category in 2026. Pipecat gives you a Python frame-based pipeline (VAD → STT → LLM → TTS → transport). LiveKit Agents bridges AI models to users over WebRTC. Production latency targets land at 450–600ms end-to-end for premium stacks.

Learn 1 hr Python (stdlib)

Prerequisites: Phase 14 · 01 (Agent Loop), Phase 14 · 12 (Workflow Patterns)

#Learning Objectives

Describe Pipecat's frame-based pipeline: DOWNSTREAM (source→sink) and UPSTREAM (control).
Name the canonical voice pipeline stages and which transports Pipecat supports.
Explain LiveKit Agents' two voice agent classes (MultimodalAgent, VoicePipelineAgent) and when each fits.
Summarize 2026 production latency expectations and how they drive architecture choices.

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The text and code of this lesson are based on AI Engineering from Scratch by Rohit Ghumare, MIT licensed.