I DM my friends on Instagram. I ride the subway every day. I am a journalist. Because of these simple facts, I find myself the unwitting victim of a sweeping surveillance network that knows who I am, what I say, and how I spend my time, online and off. And I’m careful that Big Tech comes from me.
However, our daily habits are a storehouse of surveillance information: The apps we use; public spaces filled with facial recognition technology; AI assistants know who we are and what we like; the places we shop, the smart watches we wear, the phone you’re probably reading this article on. Even the most careful are still releasing data into the world, but how do we know where we are most vulnerable, and what should we do to feel more secure?
A new campaign by digital youth advocacy organization Gen Z For Change hopes to provide a solution. Today, the group is launching “Eyes on AI” — a curated landing page that offers the first surveillance inspection tool that lets you see exactly how the government and its Big Tech partners are collecting your data.
How young people really feel about AI and its future
Cheyenne Hunt, executive director of Gen Z For Change, told Mashable that political leaders have now introduced the alarming threat of surveillance to the youth movement, including the group’s leaders, many of whom are young people of color who have had negative interactions with government agencies, such as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). And as digital planners, they see the irony of needing to use the very tools, like social media, that threaten their security.
“We needed to know early that we are being watched closely and in a new way by the government and their partners and Big Tech,” said Hunt. “And that connection is obvious.”
But everyone, not just editors or journalists, is at risk, Hunt said. With Eyes on AI, people of all kinds are given tools to assess their risks. “Warrantless surveillance is completely legal and artificial intelligence is enabling it,” the website informs visitors. “AI-driven monitoring tools read your data, read your schedule, and create a profile of you to eat your privacy.”
The Eyes on AI testing tool is designed to mimic the kinds of weird visual games and memes that frequent the Internet, its creators tell Mashable, like horoscope mood boards, AI judge your Spotify statisticsor viral Rice Purity Test. Only this time, that sense of knowing isn’t played as fun and silly — its level is much higher. “Your future is for sale,” the campaign reminds viewers.
Credit: Gen Z For Change
“We have done routine surveillance and data collection, ie not normal and actually very, very scary,” said Dominique Demetz, creative director of Gen Z For Change and one of the project’s coders. Demetz explained that the Eyes on AI tool, which feels almost like an import (and later rejected) from a top secret spy agency, is meant to worry you.
Immediately after the click, the “agent” on the other end knows your IP address. And you don’t have to give it any other personal information to understand how you are being monitored. All you need to know is what apps you use, how you pay for groceries, if you get spam emails regularly, or if you’re a current college student (you don’t even need to know where you go to school).
Mashable Light Speed
That’s intentional, explains Hana Memon, Gen Z For Change digital strategist, editor, and creator of Eyes on AI. In accordance with its principles, the service does not ask the user to provide any identifiable information that can be measured and used by outsiders, such as race or immigration status, but it can still find out more about you and your digital hygiene.
“The goal is to show how every part of your life, from the way you walk, which religious apps you use, your health care provider, is all connected in a web of surveillance,” Memon said.
The tool does not save any user input or reports. Everything is done locally and runs on JavaScript, and Gen Z For Change offers a community on GitHub.
Teenagers are used as lab rats by these companies.
Eyes on AI draws information from digital privacy watchdogs, as it were The Watchtowerinteractive databases, i Electronic Frontier Foundation‘s Atlas of Surveillance, and Tech Equityemployee resources, including bossware descriptors, or technology used to evaluate employees. The tool was built over the course of several months by a team of more than a dozen Gen Z influencers, coders, and activists.
Eyes on AI intelligently walks users through the many ways their lives are being recorded and sold to surveillance tools. Then, they are given the option to issue a full report, complete with recommendations to curb personal data collection, resources about surveillance threats, and a list of other major surveillance players who may be dealing with their data, including ICE and other government agencies. Your personal threats are categorized by the technology itself, such as if you are at risk because of it automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) or police forecasting.
Credit: Gen Z For Change
Credit: Gen Z For Change
Gen Z For Change has evolved significantly since its founding in 2020 as a youth-led, social media-focused movement builder. The organization sees strategic coding as a weapon against political and technological oligarchies that have shamelessly used their influence to amass power under what Hunt calls “Trump 2.0.” The massive acceleration of AI, he said, has made it worse.
Gen Z For Change was behind many of the tools used by Internet editors. Last year, they launched a service to help hotels decompress refused to ride with ICE agents. The party’s team and network of creative partners have been working behind the scenes to shore up votes for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Previous coding campaigns include this one Gen Z is the Palestinian resource hubimmigration resource toolkit FIGHT,, and an abortion planning tool It’s safe.
“Made with ❤️ by gen-z for transitioning kids,” the site reads.
In fact, the organization is preparing a major activation that will see a network of their creators – a group of politically connected creators with 500 million followers – warning their viewers and their loved ones about the observation of capitalism. Posters and billboards will be put up in all major cities. The big one 1984-A stylistic warning will soon be displayed on the side of the Brooklyn Bridge, featuring Demetz’s eyeball. It will be matched by policy push at the federal level, too. The country does not yet have a comprehensive privacy regulation on the books.
Lending their time – and retinal data – to the project, the team is using their own Eyes on AI recommendations to keep their work secure, including backing off from encrypted messaging sites, sweeping their data from data brokers, and paying careful attention to how they move in public spaces.
“Young people have been used as lab rats by these companies,” said Hunt. Gen Z For Changes wants to help the rats fight back.
