Microsoft Launches Project Gecko
Microsoft has introduced Project Gecko, a research initiative aimed at creating affordable, localized generative AI systems for underrepresented populations. The first focus of the project is on smallholder farmers in Kenya and India.
Led by Microsoft Research with support from Microsoft Research Africa in Nairobi, Microsoft Research India, and the Microsoft Research Accelerator in the US, the project also involves partnerships with the agri-tech NGO Digital Green.
The primary goal of Project Gecko is to address the language, cultural, and infrastructure barriers that hinder the use of AI in low-resource environments. The project aims to make AI tools more accessible and relevant to local communities.
MMCTAgent: The Core of Project Gecko
At the heart of the project is the MultiModal Critical Thinking Agent (MMCTAgent), an AI system that processes speech, images, and video to provide contextually relevant and locally grounded responses. This system can break down complex queries, verify its own outputs, and generate answers rooted in community-generated practices, often captured in videos and transcripts.
"MMCTAgent is capable of processing multimodal inputs and delivering context-rich, locally relevant answers," says Microsoft.
The MMCTAgent is available on the Azure AI Foundry Labs, and its code has been published on GitHub for further research and collaboration.
Agriculture as a Starting Point
The agricultural sector is the first area of focus for Project Gecko due to its significant economic importance in countries like Kenya and India. Millions of smallholder farmers in these regions work on plots of land under five acres in size, which makes access to tailored AI tools especially valuable.
Microsoft and its partners argue that existing AI solutions are often ineffective for farmers because they are primarily trained on English-language data, fail to handle local dialects, and do not incorporate region-specific agricultural terms and practices.
"Existing AI tools fail to meet the needs of farmers in Kenya and India due to language and cultural limitations," Microsoft researchers explain.
Project Gecko aims to bridge these gaps and provide solutions that are culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate for these farmers.
Summary: Project Gecko is an innovative effort by Microsoft to create affordable, localized AI systems for underrepresented populations, with a focus on improving agricultural practices for smallholder farmers in Kenya and India.