I built Pax because I
couldn't unsee it.
I didn't set out to build a tech company. I set out to solve a problem that was driving me crazy.
It started the way most things do — reading something online that concerned me. In December of 2025, sitting on my couch, I read that Meta had acquired Manus, a foreign-founded AI startup specializing in intelligent agents. My first thought was immediate and visceral: This can't be good. Look how social media has already changed us — how much worse will this make it?
That moment stuck with me. I started paying attention differently and asking different questions. What I saw was everywhere: algorithms engineered to make you go deeper, stay longer than you ever imagined, headlines engineered to trigger panic before your rational brain kicks in, tribal language that demands you pick a side, authority signals standing in for actual evidence, emotional sequences designed to keep you scrolling instead of thinking — across multiple platforms, across multiple outlets. This wasn't accidental. It was architecture.
I have kids. They're not online yet, but they will be. And unlike me, they won't remember a world before constant digital manipulation. They're going to inherit a landscape of engineered influence with no tools and no warning system — and I decided it was my job to do something about that.
I looked for a product that addressed this. Not a fact-checker. Not a news aggregator. Something that sits at the point of consumption, in real time, and surfaces patterns without telling you what to believe. Something that protects your ability to think, rather than doing the thinking for you.
It didn't exist. So I built it.
Pax is a browser extension for Safari and Chrome, and a downloadable mobile app, that analyzes what you're reading for psychological manipulation, influence tactics, and inauthentic content patterns. It uses AI to detect 15 specific patterns — from fear framing and tribal language to PSYOP signals and bot-generated content. When it finds something, a small, friendly orb changes color and waits for you to click. Pax never interrupts. It never lectures. It just watches.
The Family plan — and the Teams and School plan — was always part of the early vision. I wanted something I could share with my household, and every other household, and every other group of people, that would work quietly in the background for everyone, not just the person who built it. Because protecting the people you love, and their ability to think clearly, should be easy and accessible.
I'm based in West Texas. I work in building automation. I built Pax during my free time because I believed in it, and because the problem is real and it's getting worse.
Think clearly. Decide freely. — Lyz McKinney, Founder, Pax PCF