What do you do, and why?
I research, design, and build human–AI interactions, currently focusing on voice AI in healthcare. I do it because I believe AI can help people lead better lives.
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How do you bring that together?
Understanding people is the starting point.
Making something they can use is what brings it together.
I helped turn client needs into voice agents, from tone and turn-taking to the unexpected.
Co-founder & product lead
I designed and built clearer paths through booking, lab orders, onboarding, and results.
Employee · Product design & engineering
I explored how conversational formality shapes older adults’ experience of voice AI.
Researcher
Conversational Human–AI Interactions Lab
Northeastern University
Can you show me?
From making healthcare easier to navigate
to making AI easier to talk to.
Employee · Product design & engineering
Over two months, I designed and built changes to how members arrange lab tests, prepare for visits, and understand their results.
Making the next step clear Researcher · Human–AI interaction
What makes a voice feel trustworthy? My research explores how formality shapes trust, empathy, and adoption in conversations with older adults. I’m interested in the human side of AI: the way a system speaks, the expectations people bring, and how those details shape the experience.
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Exploring how formality shapes trust, empathy, and adoption in conversations with older adults.
How should conversational AI speak to people? The tone of a system can matter as much as the information it delivers.
Conversational AI research with Northeastern’s CHAI Lab, Utrecht, and CalicoCare, in a study involving 137 adults aged 60–85. My focus is human factors and the experience of interacting with AI.
Part of my MSc Artificial Intelligence at Utrecht University.
adults, aged 60–85
Exploring trust, empathy,
and how a voice is received.
Co-founder & product lead
At Spoqen, I worked on how voice agents behave in real conversations. That means thinking about tone, turn-taking, and what happens when someone goes off script. As co-founder and product lead, I connected client needs with product decisions and worked with the engineering team to bring those decisions into the experience.
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Shaping voice-agent behavior, from turn-taking and tone to the moments when a conversation goes off script.
A voice agent needs more than a useful answer. It needs to handle timing, uncertainty, and the expectations of the person on the other end.
As co-founder and product lead, I worked on product strategy, roadmap and sprint planning with three engineers. I translated client requirements into voice-agent tone, turn-taking behavior, and edge cases.
Conversational design, product decisions, and the connection between what a client needs and how the agent behaves.
There’s more to a conversation
than the words.
Designing what happens
between question and answer.
“This ability, without compromising on research quality or ethics, makes Olivier stand out.”
“His work reflected a solid, hands-on understanding of human-centered design.”
“He strives for perfection and is comfortable in picking up open and complex topics proactively and timely.”
“Olivier always brought a fresh perspective to the table and an entrepreneurial mindset.”
“he taught me a lot while we were researching AI-related material for our presentation.”
“Olivier's positivity, diligence, and team spirit make him a stand-out team member.”
What draws you to voice?
A pause, a laugh, a shift in tone. Voice carries meaning beyond the words. I’m interested in how we bring that human depth to technology.
Understand the person, their context, and what they need from the interaction.
A helpful system needs to handle hesitation and the moments that don’t follow a script.
Sometimes speaking is natural. Sometimes text is better. Good design leaves room for both.
And outside the work?
I want technology to help people understand their health, express themselves, and connect with others.
I like the space between a conversation with a user and a product that makes their day easier. My background brings together product building, UX, and conversational AI research. I enjoy understanding how people think, making something tangible, and refining it through feedback. That’s the thread connecting the different projects here.
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My background spans product building, UX, and conversational AI research. I’ve worked on healthcare journeys at Humanolab, co-founded Spoqen, and explored human–AI interaction at CHAI Lab.
Before that, I worked as a business analyst and UX designer at KLM, founded Linkpage.bio, and started UserExperience.org to learn through conversations with people in the industry.
Utrecht University
Human factors & human–AI interaction
English, Dutch,
French & Spanish
KLM — Business analyst & UX designer. Workshops, user stories, prioritization, and migration support for internal users.
Linkpage.bio — Founder. Building and growing a product for people and brands to bring their links together.
UserExperience.org — Founder. Interviews with industry leaders, connecting curiosity about people with product and design.
Erasmus University College — Liberal Arts and Sciences, Economics & Business. Computer Science exchange at UMass Boston.
We’ve connected through speaking and listening for thousands of years. I want conversations with AI to make room for the same human qualities: tone, hesitation, and understanding.
What draws me to voice is the contrast. Conversational AI is a new design frontier, but speaking and listening are ancient human instincts. Voice carries tone, rhythm, hesitation, and emotion alongside the words. Sometimes saying a thought is quicker and more natural than typing it. Voice can also be useful when your hands are busy, when typing is difficult, or for some blind and low-vision users. Text has its strengths too: you can scan, edit, and reply in your own time. That choice is part of good design. Personally, I’m not a big texter. I’d rather call. I love podcasts, and I host my own. I believe audio will play a bigger role in how we interact with technology, and I want to help shape that thoughtfully.
Placeholder narration, not Olivier’s voice.Audio is unavailable. You can read the transcript instead.
I’m not a big texter. I’d much rather call. I listen to 99% Invisible and Stuff You Should Know, and I host my own podcast. I believe audio will play a bigger role in how we interact with technology, and I want to help shape that thoughtfully.
| What matters | What voice brings | What text brings |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Tone, rhythm, emphasis, and hesitation alongside the words. | Carefully chosen words, punctuation, and room to reread. |
| Pace | A thought spoken as it forms. A quick back-and-forth without typing. | Time to compose, edit, scan, and reply when it suits you. |
| Access & context | An option when your hands are busy or typing is difficult. Spoken interaction can also help some blind and low-vision users. | A quiet, visible record when listening or speaking isn’t practical. |
The design opportunity is knowing when voice helps—and giving people a choice. No single mode works for everyone, everywhere.
I’m curious about how we create and share meaning: through words, sound, signs, and the space we give each other.
My interest in communication goes beyond voice technology. I speak English, Dutch, French, and Spanish fluently, and I’m learning Arabic and American Sign Language. I’ve also given a talk on ASL. I’m curious about semiotics, information theory, etymology, and how languages evolve. Basque particularly fascinates me. I listen to 99 percent Invisible and Stuff You Should Know. My favorite episode of Stuff You Should Know is Nuclear Semiotics: How to Talk to Future Humans. I also play guitar, another way of communicating through audio. That interest in communication is personal too. I value therapy, mental well-being, nonviolent communication, and the space that men’s circles create for expressing yourself and being listened to.
Placeholder narration, not Olivier’s voice.Audio is unavailable. You can read the transcript instead.
I speak English, Dutch, French, and Spanish fluently. I’m learning Arabic and American Sign Language, and I’ve given a talk on ASL. I also spent some time learning Esperanto.
Semiotics, information theory, and etymology feed my curiosity about how meaning travels and how languages evolve. Basque particularly fascinates me: it’s a language isolate, with no demonstrated relatives among living languages.
I’m interested in how people infer patterns from what they hear, and how those patterns can change as language passes between people and generations.
Related reading: iterated learningI also play guitar. For me, it’s another way of communicating through audio: expression through rhythm, phrasing, and feeling.
I value therapy and mental well-being, and I’m drawn to nonviolent communication. I also take part in men’s circles: spaces to express yourself and be listened to.
Being heard matters to me, beyond anything I build.
Think we’d work well together?
I’m interested in product, UX, and applied AI opportunities
in healthcare and beyond. Based in the Bay Area.
