Streaming Summit adds AI-in-the-stack session on encoding, QC, and delivery

The 2026 NAB Streaming Summit (April 20–21) includes a session titled "Real-World Implementations of AI in the Video Stack," focused on operational AI embedded in encoding, quality control, and delivery workflows. The session sits alongside — but is distinct from — the chatbot content-discovery slot and the opening AI governance panel, reflecting how broad the AI topic has become: the Summit now devotes three separate sessions to AI across front-end, back-end, and governance dimensions.

The confirmed speaker mix includes infrastructure vendors Akamai and AWS, codec specialists Elecard and Tiledmedia, encoding and video solutions firm MediaKind, and analyst firm Altman Solon. That combination suggests the session will balance technical case studies of deployed AI in production pipelines with market-sizing context on where AI spend is actually landing inside the video stack.

The separation of back-end AI into its own dedicated slot is a structural change from prior Summits, where AI in encoding or quality-control workflows appeared as sub-topics within broader streaming-operations panels. The structure signals that vendors and operators now have enough field experience with production AI to run an entire session on implementation specifics rather than capability overviews.