Telegram Partners with xAI to Launch Grok AI Chatbot
NEW YORK: Telegram established a partnership with Elon Musk's xAI to provide the Grok generative artificial intelligence program on the messaging service for one year, Telegram's CEO announced Wednesday.
In exchange for implementing Grok across its platforms, Telegram will receive $300 million in cash and equity, plus 50 percent of the revenue from xAI subscriptions sold via Telegram, Telegram's chief Pavel Durov announced on X, the former Twitter.
Grok will be accessible on Telegram this summer, Durov said.
The terms of the deal may appear unbalanced, but the transaction allows xAI, which in late March acquired Musk's X platform, to have access to Telegram's customers, which Durov estimated has more than one billion users.
Generative AI businesses have been aiming to grow their user base in order to recover revenues after huge investments in the state-of-the-art technology.
xAI in February released the latest version of its chatbot, Grok 3, which the billionaire hopes will find traction in a highly competitive sector contested by the likes of ChatGPT and China's DeepSeek.
Grok 3 is also going up against OpenAI's chatbot, ChatGPT -- pitting Musk against collaborator-turned-arch rival Sam Altman.
Grok is accessible on the X platform, but with limitations on non-paying users. The premium service costs $40 per month, or $395 per year.
Durov has faced judicial action in France after clashing with French authorities over illegal content on his popular messaging service, including claims that France interfered in Romanian elections.
Earlier this month, French authorities denied a request for Durov, who holds French and Russian passports, to travel to the United States for talks with investment funds.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
French state makes offer to buy part of Atos' former Advanced Computing unit
The logo of Atos is seen on a company building in Nantes, France, March 11, 2022. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo PARIS (Reuters) -The French state has made a 410 million euros ($466.33 million)confirmatory offer to buy part of the former Advanced Computing business of tech company Atos, said Atos on Monday. Once seen as a European tech champion, with a market value of more than 10 billion euros at its highest, Atos emerged from financial troubles in 2024 thanks to a restructuring agreement with its creditors. Atos said the French state's offer for its former Advanced Computing business was worth 410 million euros on an enterprise value basis. It added that its Vision AI businesses did not form part of the planned deal with the French government, and that Vision AI would be repositioned within Atos' Eviden business unit. ($1 = 0.8792 euros) (Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Sonali Paul and Kim Coghill)
Sinar Daily
3 hours ago
- Sinar Daily
AI personal shoppers hunt down bargain buys
NEW YORK – Internet giants are diving deeper into e-commerce with digital aides that know shoppers' preferences, let them virtually try on clothes, hunt for deals, and even place orders. The rise of virtual personal shoppers stems from generative artificial intelligence (AI) being deployed in "agents" that specialise in specific tasks and are granted autonomy to complete them independently. 'This is basically the next evolution of shopping experiences,' said CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino. Google last week unveiled shopping features built into a new 'AI Mode'. It can take a person's own photo and blend it with that of a skirt, shirt, or other piece of clothing spotted online, showing how it would look on them. The AI adjusts the clothing size to fit, accounting for how fabrics drape, according to Google's Head of Advertising and Commerce, Vidhya Srinivasan. Shoppers can then set the price they are willing to pay and leave the AI to tirelessly browse the internet for a deal — alerting the shopper when one is found, and asking whether it should proceed with the purchase using Google's payment platform. 'They're taking on Amazon a little bit,' said Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart of Google. The tool is also a way to monetise AI by increasing online traffic and opportunities to display ads, Greengart added. The Silicon Valley tech titan did not respond to a query regarding whether it is sharing revenue from shopping transactions. Bartering bots? OpenAI added a shopping feature to ChatGPT earlier this year, enabling the chatbot to respond to requests with product suggestions, consumer reviews, and links to merchant websites. Perplexity AI began allowing subscribers to pay for online purchases without leaving its app late last year. In April, Amazon introduced a 'Buy for Me' mode to its Rufus digital assistant, enabling users to command it to make purchases on retailer websites outside Amazon's own platform. Walmart's Head of Technology, Hari Vasudev, recently spoke about adding an AI agent to the retail behemoth's online shopping portal, while also working with partners to ensure their digital agents prioritise Walmart products. Global payment networks Visa and Mastercard both announced in April that their systems had been modernised to enable payment transactions by digital agents. 'As AI agents start to take over the bulk of product discovery and the decision-making process, retailers must consider how to optimise for this new layer of AI shoppers,' said Elise Watson of Clarkston Consulting. Retailers are likely to be left in the dark when it comes to what makes a product attractive to AI agents, according to Watson. Knowing the customer Zino does not expect AI shoppers to trigger an upheaval in the e-commerce industry, but he does see the technology benefiting Google and Meta. Not only do the internet rivals possess vast amounts of data about their users, but they are also among the frontrunners in the AI race. 'They probably have more information on the consumer than anyone else out there,' Zino said of Google and Meta. Technology firms' access to user data touches on the hot-button issue of online privacy and who should control personal information. Google plans to refine consumer profiles based on search activity and promises that shoppers will need to authorise access to additional information, such as emails or app usage. Trusting a chatbot with purchasing decisions may alarm some users, and while the technology may be in place, the legal and ethical framework is not yet fully developed. 'The agent economy is here,' said PSE Consulting Managing Director Chris Jones. 'The next phase of e-commerce will depend on whether we can trust machines to buy on our behalf.' - AFP
The Star
4 hours ago
- The Star
Hong Kong bankers on edge over US$11bil loan
The stakes are so high that in many cases, the banks' chief risk officers have stepped in. — Bloomberg HONG KONG: Hong Kong bankers have become fixated on an US$11bil loan deal with unusually high stakes for the financial hub. New World Development Co (NWD), an embattled property developer controlled by one of Hong Kong's richest families, is aiming to complete one of the city's largest-ever corporate refinancing deals with more than 50 banks by the end of June after pushing back an initial deadline for this month. So far, at least 12 banks have agreed to terms while the rest are still talking, according to sources. Failure to reach a deal could lead to demands for immediate repayment. The repercussions would threaten both NWD and many of the banks which are already suffering from a sharp rise in non-performing loans from commercial real estate. The stakes are so high that in many cases, the banks' chief risk officers have stepped in, sources said. Even chief executive officers of banks are closely monitoring the situation with frequent updates, the people added, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. 'A NWD failure wouldn't break the system, but that destabilisation could be contagious,' said Brock Silvers, managing director at private equity firm Kaiyuan Capital. 'A 'delay & pray' strategy would buy time while doing little to alleviate underlying risk to the company or Hong Kong's broader financial system.' NWD aims to secure HK$87.5bil in refinancing. It has commitments exceeding HK$20bil from Bank of China Ltd, HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc, local lenders Bank of East Asia Ltd, Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd, Hang Seng Bank Ltd and French lender Credit Industriel et Commercial SA along with several other financial institutions. NWD did not respond to a request for comment. The other banks are in the process of securing internal credit approvals. A deal of this magnitude can take time as credit committees scrutinise every detail, raising numerous questions to evaluate the risks involved. Some banks are waiting for lenders with greater exposure to sign on before they can secure their own internal approvals, said the sources. A couple of other top Chinese, Japanese and Singaporean banks are in the final stages of approving the loan, according to sources. 'If one or two lenders in the syndicate are unwilling to commit, will the others in the syndicate be willing to take up the rest of the refinancing? 'If yes, the impact to the banking sector would be limited,' said Cusson Leung, chief investment officer for KGI Asia. — Bloomberg
