Jacob Evans

I'm currently on WhatsApp, and I've been given the number to this new AI chatbot, Ulanjizi AI.

So to see how it works, I thought I'd get it loaded up here, and I've been sent some photos from some farmers in Malawi of a bug.

Now, I have no idea what it is, neither do they.

It's almost certainly invasive, and it's damaging their crops.

So what I'm going to do is upload the photo, ask the AI chatbot what I'm looking at, what damage can it cause, and how do I get rid of it?

What's really useful is there's text and a voice note.

You can also send it a voice note, which is important in places where lots of people can't read or write.

It also has a suggested prompt for follow-ups and little thumbs up or down reactions for you to say if the answer was useful.

Ulanjizi was developed by a non-profit organisation called Opportunity International, which uses a network of around 800 farming support agents in Malawi.

These are local people who have access to WhatsApp and travel around rural areas as intermediaries between the smallholders and agricultural organisations, like Anna Chimalazeni.

I spoke to her and Bahati Zimba from Opportunity International, who helped translate.

The initiative has proven especially popular among women.

Anna has been with Opportunity International for a while and helped develop the product alongside the organisation's head of agricultural finance, Tim Strong.

Since then, the team have worked to build Ulanjizi AI to a point where it's been endorsed by the government of Malawi and uses official advice and insight in its answers.

Richard Chongo is Opportunity International's in-country director.

Ulanjizi has faced challenges since its inception.

Now these teething issues are out the way, it's a model that is being trialled elsewhere.

The team have already started working in Ghana and Kenya, and early trials are underway in the DRC, Rwanda and Madagascar.

Every second, thousands of invisible pieces of plastic flow through the River Rhone in Valence, France. And in the Seine in Paris, which swimmers braved for the 2024 Olympics, there's 900 microplastics flowing per second. That's according to new research looking at nine of Europe's major rivers, from the Thames in England to the Tiber in Italy.

Every second, thousands of invisible pieces of plastic flow through the River Rhone in Valence, France. And in the Seine in Paris, which swimmers braved for the 2024 Olympics, there's 900 microplastics flowing per second. That's according to new research looking at nine of Europe's major rivers, from the Thames in England to the Tiber in Italy.