Telegram inks US$300m deal with Elon Musk's xAI to bring Grok chatbot to one billion users
NEW YORK, May 29 — 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 yesterday.
In exchange for implementing Grok across its platforms, Telegram will receive US$300 million (RM1.28 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 US$40 per month, or US$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. — AFP
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