CogniShift is an Al-powered browser extension designed to revolutionize how neurodiverse students interact with the web. Developed for the Innovate 3.0 Hackathon at JIIT Noida, CogniShift leverages cutting-edge, on-device artificial intelligence to create a personalized, distraction-free, and supportive learning
The modern web is built for the "neurotypical" brain, often prioritizing engagement through constant stimulation. For neurodivergent students, this creates a digital environment full of obstacles:
- Sensory Overload: Autoplay videos, flashing banners, and cluttered sidebars compete for limited attention, leading to rapid cognitive fatigue.
- The "Wall of Text" Effect: Long, unstructured articles can feel insurmountable, often causing students to abandon research before they even begin.
CogniShift was born to bridge this gap. By moving the "intelligence" of the web directly onto the user's device, we create a browsing experience that is not just productive, but inclusive.
CogniShift's ADHD mode reduces cognitive overload using AI simplification, guided reading, and distraction-free design tailored to ADHD patterns.
- AI Content Simplification: Uses Gemini to instantly rewrite complex sentences into clear, ADHD-friendly language without ever sending data to the cloud.
- Keyword Pastel Highlights: Automatically identifies and highlights core concepts in soft, non-stimulating pastel colors to aid memory retention and visual scanning.
- Focus Ruler: A customizable horizontal guide that follows your cursor, creating a "reading lane" to prevent eye-wandering and line-skipping.
- Bionic Reading: Enhances text by bolding the first few letters of each word, creating artificial fixation points that guide the eye for faster, more rhythmic reading.
- Distraction Removal: A "one-click" clean view that strips away autoplay videos, sidebars, and intrusive pop-ups, leaving only the essential content.
The CogniShift engine follows a precise four-stage pipeline to transform the web experience:
- Extraction: The extension uses JavaScript Content Scripts to identify and capture the primary readable content from the active tab, stripping away unnecessary metadata.
- Processing: The extracted text is sent to the Gemini model. The AI performs real-time simplification and summarization locally, ensuring zero data latency and absolute user privacy.
- Sanitization: Before the AI's response is rendered, it is scrubbed by DOMPurify. This crucial step prevents XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) by ensuring no malicious code can be injected into the browser UI.
- Injection & Visualization: The "clean" simplified text is injected back into the webpage for the user. Simultaneously, Chart.js processes the session data to update the user’s productivity metrics on the dashboard.