Archive - Digital Digging with Henk van Ess

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

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

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

February 2026

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

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

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

Introducing: CrowdCounter

How many people are really in that photo?

Feb 6 • Henk van Ess

January 2026

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

Using AI to find hidden data sources

How I found 56,273 hidden power outages in five minutes

Jan 20 • Henk van Ess

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

12:59

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

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

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts