I’m Cydney Hayes, a writer and journalist based in San Francisco.

I am currently on staff at Gazetteer San Francisco, where I cover tech, business, and culture.

In the past year, I’ve broken stories on the toxic culture inside the $10B data-labeling startup Mercor, the Castro bars using controversial surveillance technology, the wacky marketing tactics of AI insurance startup Corgi, the hyper-online tech founders converting to Catholicism, and the underground economy of gig workers who sell their biometric data to train AI models.

In 2025, my article “In Between Gods, Looking for Work” — which explores the culture inside AI clubs in the neighborhood known as “Cerebral Valley” in the early days of the AI boom — received a feature writing award from the SF Press Club.

My work for Gazetteer has been cited in New York Magazine, WIRED, San Francisco Chronicle, and others.

I’ve also appeared on BBC News, Taylor Lorenz’s Power User podcast, and WBAI 99.5 New York.

Bylines in The Drift, Architectural Digest, Baltimore, Entertainment Weekly, and elsewhere.

Personal projects:

🌐 OPENWORLD, blog hosted on Substack

💌 Zines, sold at Green Apple Books (sold out!)