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Detectives, Detectors and Deceptions
Watch the full free GIJN seminar on what AI detectors get right, get wrong, and miss entirely
Mar 27
•
Henk van Ess
15
1
How I Taught AI to Catch Fakes I Can't See
From side project to newsroom tool in twelve months
Mar 12
•
Henk van Ess
13
1
Visual investigations: here's how to do it.
"60 to 70% of visual forensics is human, not tech,” says Henk van Ess
Mar 7
•
Alex Mahadevan
18
3
A lawyer, a road inspector and a cardiologist walk into a coding competition. So did I. This is no longer a joke.
I apologized for not being a coder. Some answered: me neither.
Feb 20
•
Henk van Ess
26
4
5
The State of Online Search: How to Find What You're Looking For in the Age of AI
Operators still work, AI can help, and the “hard way” is now the only way.
Feb 17
•
Craig Silverman
21
2
Latest
Top
Discussions
Made by Google. Missed by Google — except for one tool, buried in the garden shed.
If Google can make the fake, it should flag the fake in all its products
Feb 8
•
Henk van Ess
18
2
Introducing: CrowdCounter
How many people are really in that photo?
Feb 6
•
Henk van Ess
14
2
2
Why AI detection fails on the fakes that matter most
Total fakes are easy to spot. Hybrid fakes slip through. How to fix that?
Jan 23
•
Henk van Ess
22
7
9
Using AI to find hidden data sources
How I found 56,273 hidden power outages in five minutes
Jan 20
•
Henk van Ess
22
2
3
12:59
Episode 9: From hidden data to insight: the power of vibecoding
How to extract data from websites with rich information
Jan 17
•
Henk van Ess
6
1
Introducing AIWhisperer. Feed massive files to AI with less data exposed
Plus three Perplexity Pro and one You.com annual subscription up for grabs.
Jan 15
•
Henk van Ess
16
2
3
Speed reading a massive criminal investigation with AI
How to make sense of 4,713 pages in 20 minutes without leaking data
Jan 14
•
Henk van Ess
20
2
They Droned Back
Young journalists expose Russian-linked vessels circling off the Dutch and German coast
Dec 10, 2025
•
Henk van Ess
150
5
40
Did Google's AI fool you?
Three ways to find out yourself
Nov 20, 2025
•
Henk van Ess
10
3
See all
Digital Digging with Henk van Ess
Henk van Ess is an international expert in online research methods utilizing the web and AI. This newsletter has members from organizations such as BBC, Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft, NBC, Oracle, New York Times and Washington Post. Join now.
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