The principle is simple: a child picks up the telephone receiver and starts talking. A friendly voice listens, responds and, together with the child, develops a story step by step. WISPER can understand what is said in different languages but always responds in German.
The focus is not only on language skills and fluency, but also on building self-confidence and the experience of being understood. From the outset, the priority has been to create a user experience that meets the needs and abilities of nursery school children. The AIT Center for Technology Experience has many years of experience in this field: people are at the heart of technology development, and technologies should benefit individuals.
Positive effects of WISPER
• Children have fun with WISPER and love creating stories with it
• WISPER takes the pressure off speech therapists and early years educators and provides children with additional opportunities to practise learning German through play.
Another important aspect is the human-centred use of AI, “we’re also talking about the human-AI experience here,” explains AIT project manager Georg Regal. WISPER is currently in pilot operation at a nursery in Vienna’s Floridsdorf district. An expanded trial is planned for 2026 across nurseries throughout Vienna.
We are delighted to have been nominated for the eAward 2026 in the “Education and Social Affairs” category. The awards ceremony will take place on 10 September.
The WISPER project team: Georg Regal, Christine Wahlmüller-Schiller, Gowtham Sridhar, Ulrike Kretzer, Isabella Krottenberger (AIT), Christian Vogelauer, Clemens Selzer, Martina Weingartmann, Ewelina Sobczak, Katrin Zell (City of Vienna – Nursery Schools, MA10)
