OtherWise.

Your world, a little wider

Your feed
knows you.
What else
could you know?

Meet OtherWise. A browser extension that connects what you love to what you haven't discovered yet.

Meet OtherWiseRead our story
Familiar interestsNew possibilities
A small step into a wider worldAn illustrative topic map connects AI tools with human–AI interaction and psychology. Other topic clusters show the space beyond familiar interests.AI toolsHuman–AIinteractionPsychologyYOUR FAMILIAR WORLDROOM TO EXPLORE
Start with what you know. Follow one connection.
THE JOURNEYThe problemThe idea becomes a solutionYour next discovery

01 / The starting point

A familiar feed.
A smaller world.

We started with a question: when recommendations keep returning to what we already like, how do we discover what we don't know to look for?

The recommendation loop71%

of videos reported as regrettable by volunteers in Mozilla’s study had been recommended by YouTube.

Mozilla Foundation · 2021
The feed shapes what we see1 in 5

U.S. adults regularly got news on TikTok in Pew’s 2025 survey, up from 3% in 2020.

Pew Research Center · 2025
The thinking gap

Trust can replace curiosity.

A study of knowledge workers linked higher confidence in AI to less reported critical thinking.

Microsoft Research / CHI · 2025

These studies motivated our idea. They do not establish that OtherWise improves critical thinking or reduces echo chambers.

02 / The idea

What if AI opened
the next door?

Start with something you care about.
Find a connection you haven't considered.
Choose where to go yourself.

Small, meaningful steps make a new field easier to approach. The goal is to support your curiosity and leave the thinking to you.

03 / The solution

A little wider,
right in your browser.

OtherWise is a Chrome extension for discovering meaningful topics beyond your current interests. It suggests a next step; you decide whether to take it.

01Browse

Browse as usual

Search, read, and watch the way you already do. OtherWise fits into your browser.

02Confirm

Choose what to keep

Topic matching happens on your device. Review the suggestions and confirm your interests.

03Discover

Find a nearby idea

Discover related topics just beyond your familiar interests. Adjust how far you want to explore.

04Explore

Make it your own

Follow a topic into a new search. Your interest map gives you a view of what you choose to explore.

Explore your interest galaxy

The big picture.
A nearby discovery.

See the full galaxy, highlight a subject area, or center the view on one topic to explore the ideas nearby.

Full galaxy map with colored topic clusters across mathematics, computing, biology, history, and other subject areas.

The full galaxy map

Get the big picture of topics and subject areas, all in one connected space.

Topic-focused galaxy highlights for Learning and language, with Student, University, and Mandarin Chinese standing out against dimmed topics.

Topic-focused highlights

Bring a subject area into focus while keeping its place in the wider galaxy visible.

Focused view centered on Cooperative games, surrounded by nearby topics including Educational games, Board games, Game theory, and Cozy games.

One topic, nearby possibilities

Center on a topic such as cooperative games and explore its neighbors, one connection at a time.

See OtherWise in action

Watch the walkthrough.

Take a closer look at OtherWise and how it opens up new directions to explore.

Watch on YouTube

A small step, made concrete

One interest.
A new direction.

Choose a starting point to see how a familiar topic can connect to a different field.

Illustrative paths · not live recommendations

Your starting point

AI tools

A meaningful connection

Human–AI interaction

A different field

Psychology

How we work with AI leads to questions about attention, judgment, and human behavior.

04 / From idea to engine

Close enough to connect.
New enough to surprise.

We compare topics by meaning and look just beyond the familiar region around your interests. Context helps reveal connections that a simple title match can miss.

Context-based project diagram connecting computer science to psychology through human–computer interaction.

A connection, with a reason.

In our pitch example, human–computer interaction becomes a bridge between computer science and psychology.

  • 01Keep each interest as its own starting point.
  • 02Look in an adjustable band beyond the familiar.
  • 03Favor a mix of topics over repeated variations.

Project experiment diagrams from our pitch. Topic distance is a model of semantic novelty, not a measure of a person's knowledge.

05 / Privacy by design

Your interests.
Your choice.

Browsing titles are matched on your device. Only the interests you explicitly save are sent to the recommendation service.

On your device

Browse · Match topics · Confirm

Only saved topic keywords

OtherWise

Find a nearby idea

Optional history access

Choose whether to use browsing-based topic suggestions.

Sensitive sites skipped

Email, banking, and other sensitive sites are excluded from topic collection.

Keep control

Review suggestions, skip topics, and clear saved interests.

06 / Where we go next

A working prototype.
A wider possibility.

The extension and recommendation engine are our first step. Next, we want to learn whether small discoveries turn into lasting exploration.

Built

The first exploration loop

  • Chrome side panel
  • On-device topic matching
  • Nearby-topic suggestions
  • Interest universe visualization
Next

More ways to connect

  • Compare universes with friends
  • Topic discovery in more languages
  • Refine the exploration experience
Later

Learn from real use

  • A two-week pilot
  • Study whether interests widen
  • Prepare for a Chrome Web Store launch

Prototype stage. The pilot, social features, and Web Store launch are planned work.

Think Otherwise.

Most of your universe
is still unexplored.

One small step can show you something new.

Explore the project