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• Wed May 28 2025

Telegram announces partnership with Musk's xAI

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Tom Singleton Technology reporter

AI tools developed by Elon Musk's xAI are to be incorporated into the messaging service, Telegram. Announcing the deal, Telegram boss Pavel Durov said it would see his firm distribute the AI assistant, Grok, to Telegram's "billion+ users and integrate it into its apps". Mr Durov said the arrangement - which is due to last a year - would see his company receive $300m (?223m) in cash and equity from xAI, plus 50% of revenue from xAI subscriptions sold via Telegram. "Together, we win!", he posted on social media.

It follows Meta incorporating an AI service into its messaging service, WhatsApp - a development it was forced to defend after grumbling from users. Media analyst Hanna Kahlert at Midia Research told BBC News the move followed the pattern of "social and AI trying to absorb each other". She said it was not, however, necessarily what customers actually wanted. "Users primarily still use social platforms to talk to their friends, and see their friends' updates," she added. "Adding AI into direct messaging inherently supplants that - it reduces trust between users and distracts from the current USP."

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