# Buried Signals

> AI-augmented investigative journalism. Tom Vaillant (Zurich-based) builds AI infrastructure for investigations — tools, pipelines, and collaborative workflows — then publishes the investigations and teaches other journalists to do the same.

Core services: consulting for newsrooms moving to agentic workflows, custom tool development for investigations (OSINT, scraping, document analysis), training and bootcamps for journalists learning AI, and collaborative investigations where Buried Signals brings the AI layer to established newsrooms (recent partners include Bellingcat and Mediastorm).

Every page on this site is available as markdown by sending `Accept: text/markdown`.

## What I offer

- [Consulting for newsrooms](https://buriedsignals.com/consulting): AI infrastructure, agentic workflows, custom investigation tools — hourly, project-based, and retained engagements.
- [Tools](https://buriedsignals.com/tools): open-source tools I build for journalists, including Scoutpost (local news monitoring), osint-navigator (OSINT skill pack for agents), and Spotlight (investigation orchestrator).
- [Benchmarks](https://buriedsignals.com/benchmarks): live OSINT tool benchmarks for document parsing, browser automation, and scraping providers.
- [Investigations](https://buriedsignals.com/investigations): published investigations and case files.
- [Advisor](https://buriedsignals.com/advisor): standing advisor role for newsrooms.
- [Events & bootcamps](https://buriedsignals.com/events): hands-on training for journalists learning AI.
- [Newsletter](https://buriedsignals.com/newsletter): monthly dispatches on AI-in-journalism, infrastructure, and investigations.

## Case studies

- [Cleared — investigating US military housing](https://buriedsignals.com/cases/cleared): collaborative investigation with Mediastorm using AI-assisted OSINT, scrollytelling, and public records synthesis.
- [Mediastorm partnership](https://buriedsignals.com/cases/mediastorm): ongoing collaboration model for AI-augmented investigations.

## Upcoming events

- [OpenClaw for Journalists](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/openclaw-for-journalists): June 16, 2026 | Online
- [Investigating with AI Bootcamp](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/investigating-with-ai-bootcamp): May 26 – June 6, 2026 | Online

## Recent writing

- [Spotlight and the Agent-First Investigation Stack](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/spotlight-and-the-agent-first-investigation-stack): Spotlight goes public, Scoutpost gets rebuilt for agents, and OSINT Navigator passes 9,500 tools. The investigation workflow is starting to look different.
- [AI Archive Enrichment for MediaStorm](https://buriedsignals.com/cases/mediastorm): How I built a semantic search layer over MediaStorm's 20-year documentary archive — 350+ stories, searchable by meaning, not just keywords.
- [A Collaboration Model for Creators and Investigative Media](https://buriedsignals.com/cases/cleared): How I piloted a collaboration model with The New Humanitarian on a multimedia investigation into Assam's eviction campaign.
- [Republik Magazine: AI for Investigative Journalism](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/republik-ai-workshop): March 2026 | Republik, Zurich
- [OSINT Skills for Agent Investigations](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/osint-skills-for-agent-investigations): a skill file with 150 curated OSINT tools, investigation methodology, and opsec checklists. attach it to any model — local or cloud.
- [MAZ Journalism School: CLI for Investigative Journalists](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/maz-cli-workshop): January 2026 | MAZ, Luzern
- [Building AI for Open Source Investigation](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/building-ai-for-open-source-investigation): Scoutpost private beta, Bellingcat and Mediastorm collaborations.
- [Introducing Scoutpost: AI for Local News Monitoring](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/introducing-scoutpost-ai-for-local-news-monitoring): The newsroom in 2030: learnings from a journalist's AI Lab in San Francisco
- [The Augmented Journalist](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/the-augmented-journalist): From OCCRP databases to 3D storytelling with AI.
- [25/ Dishonest charts, US-China power struggles and remote sensing](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/25-dishonest-charts-us-china-power): Visual journalism tools and insights from March and April.
- [24/ Global influence map, black carbon in Greenland, using Deck.gl](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/24-global-influence-map-black-carbon): Visual journalism tools and insights from January..
- [23/ Greenland Untapped, Blender GIS, White House Creator Passes](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/23-greenland-untapped-blender-gis): Visual journalism tools and insights from November and December.
- [22/ Elections, asteroids and Geolayers](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/22-elections-asteroids-and-geolayers): Visual journalism tools and insights from October.
- [21/ Sleep training, seasons and teenagers](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/21-sleep-training-seasons-and-teenagers): First "Decoded" interview with Alvin Chang.
- [20/ Introducing Buried Signals.](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/20-the-new-buried-signals): Announcing my Youtube channel for data-driven video investigations.
- [19/ A Pudding story, science reviews](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/19-a-pudding-story-science-reviews): This issue includes membership updates.
- [18/ Visual investigations, wildfires and epic case studies](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/18-visual-investigations-wildfires): Starting an independent visual investigations unit.
- [17/ Long covid, spatial story design and a snowy Christmas](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/17-long-covid-spatial-story-design): Join me next week for a live case study with the Kontinentalist!
- [16/ Spatial journalism talk, CNN, VizGPT](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/16-spatial-journalism-talk-cnn-vizgpt): Join us for a talk with Tim Clark on spatial journalism.
- [15/ Internet artifacts, 3D data visualization and D3 AI-assist](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/15-internet-artifacts-3d-data-visualization): Curated links, tools, research and interviews for October.
- [14/ Unexpected places, spatial journalism talk, GPT interns](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/14-unexpected-places-spatial-journalism): The next member talk on spatial storytelling in December.
- [13/ AI in dataviz event, XR data stories, upcoming interviews.](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/13-ai-in-dataviz-event-xr-data-stories): Get your event invite, join as a free member!
- [12/ Visuals are universal, portfolio archiving, Singapore nights](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/12-visuals-are-universal-portfolio): Announcing the Buried Signals membership.
- [11/ Climate, GPT's code interpreter and narrative trends](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/11-climate-gpts-code-interpreter): The arrival of powerful visual scrollytelling tools.
- [10/ Persepolis, archiving and interactive storydoing](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/10-persepolis-archiving-and-interactive): Incredible interviews and effectiveness-informed authoring.
- [9/ Overfishing, NeRFs and TLDRs](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/9-overfishing-nerfs-and-tldrs): Talking about NeRFs and interview insights from the Kontinentalist.
- [8 / Blackouts, immersive reporting and human perception](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/8-blackouts-immersive-reporting-and): Announcing the Spotlight Club online meetups to discuss incredible visualization.
- [7 / Insights from the Guardian's Visuals and our new mission statement.](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/7-insights-from-the-guardians-visuals): Understanding the mechanics of powerful storytelling on the web.
- [6 / AI in global and independent journalism](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/6-ai-in-global-and-independent-journalism): Empowering independent creators to tell powerful stories.
- [5 / Overfishing, Space Trash and the Information is Beautiful Awards](https://buriedsignals.com/articles/5-overfishing-space-trash-and-the): November Edition.

## Optional

- [About](https://buriedsignals.com/about): founder background, collaborations, contact.
- [Sitemap](https://buriedsignals.com/sitemap.xml)