Phloem
2 September 2026 — Phloem presented at the NZ AI in Higher Education Symposium
Phloem's first public outing: a fifteen-minute talk, "Witness, Not Police: Honesty in AI-Assisted Writing," at the 2026 NZ AI in Higher Education Symposium at the University of Otago, with a live demonstration of the record and the report. The talk was well received, and the conversations it started — with educators, technologists, and institutional leaders — have continued since.
One theme from the day stayed with us more than any other: again and again, from different stages and different disciplines, the discussion returned to trust — between student and institution, between writer and reader. That is the question Phloem was built to answer, and hearing a room full of educators circle it independently was the strongest confirmation yet that the approach matters: not better detection, but an honest record — a witness, not a police officer.
The talk's argument, and the evidence behind it, is laid out in our Questions & Answers.
What's next
Phloem is in closed pilot — the browser version opens with a personal invitation link, and testing is widening carefully: conversations are underway with tertiary institutions in both islands, and a school presentation is scheduled for later this month. If you'd like to be part of the testing, write — it reaches the person who built it.