Microsoft announces Project Gecko to make AI more inclusive and culturally aware

Microsoft has announced Project Gecko, a new research initiative aimed at making artificial intelligence more inclusive and useful for people across the world — especially in regions where technology often struggles to understand local languages and cultures.

While generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot have become popular worldwide, they still work best for communities well-represented online. In countries where low-resource languages dominate, AI models often fail to deliver accurate or culturally relevant responses. Microsoft’s Project Gecko hopes to change that by creating affordable, customizable AI systems designed to work in multiple languages, through text, voice, and video.

The project is being led by Microsoft Research, with teams from India, Africa, and the U.S. working together, along with Digital Green, a global non-profit focused on digital solutions for agriculture. Their first focus area is farming, a sector that sustains millions of people but often lacks access to timely and trusted information.

At the center of this initiative is a new AI system called MMCTAgent, which can understand speech, images, and videos to provide context-aware answers. This technology powers FarmerChat, a voice-first AI assistant that helps small farmers in India and Kenya get personalized guidance in their local languages. For example, a farmer can ask a question in Swahili or Hindi and receive short video clips that show solutions to crop or pest problems — starting exactly where the relevant information appears in the video.