Musk’s xAI pencils $300M deal with Telegram for Grok integration

Update (May 28, 11:12 pm UTC): This article has been updated to add X posts from Elon Musk and Pavel Durov regarding the deal.

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has “agreed in principle“ to integrate its AI chatbot Grok across Telegram, says the messaging platform’s CEO, Pavel Durov.

Durov said in a May 28 X post that he and Musk agreed to a one-year partnership for Telegram to distribute Grok across Telegram and integrate it into its apps.

Musk replied to the post hours later, saying that “no deal has been signed,” to which Durov clarified that the deal was “agreed in principle, but formalities are pending.”

As part of the agreement, Telegram will receive $300 million in cash and equity from Musk’s AI company, in addition to 50% of revenue from xAI subscriptions sold via Telegram, the CEO noted.

“This summer, Telegram users will gain access to the best AI technology on the market,” Durov said in a post on his Telegram channel.

According to a promo video accompanying Durov’s announcement, the partnership is expected to bring a wide rollout of Grok features within the messenger.

Accessible via the search bar on Telegram, Grok will offer threaded chats, smart text editing, chat summaries, document digests, inbox agents, group chat moderation and more.

Some commentators speculate that Musk will soon create his own Telegram channel following the partnership.

The news comes amid several Telegram-related stories published on May 28, including BlackRock’s reported participation in the messenger’s $1.5 billion bond sale and ex-Visa crypto executive Nikola Plecas joining the TON Foundation as its new vice president of payments.

Related: Durov blocked from attending Oslo Freedom Forum — Human Rights Foundation

Telegram works closely with the TON Foundation, picking Toncoin (TON) as the messenger’s only accepted cryptocurrency for app services in January.

Toncoin has rallied on the news, seeing a 20% spike within a few hours. According to data from CoinGecko, TON is trading at $3.60 and is currently the 19th largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $8.9 billion.

Magazine: AI cures blindness, ‘good’ propaganda bots, OpenAI doomsday bunker: AI Eye