Musk's Grok AI chatbot will now be available on Telegram
What's the story
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, xAI, has struck a deal with messaging platform Telegram. The agreement is worth $300 million and will see the deployment of xAI's Grok chatbot on Telegram. The move is aimed at tapping into Telegram's massive user base of over a billion people and strengthening xAI's position in the rapidly growing AI sector.
Revenue sharing
xAI to share subscription sales with Telegram
The one-year deal also includes a revenue-sharing agreement. xAI will give half of any subscription sales made through Telegram back to the platform, according to a post by Telegram founder Pavel Durov on X. The payment for the deal will be made in both cash and stock, further cementing the partnership between the two tech giants.
Data acquisition
Partnership could provide valuable data for AI development
The partnership between xAI and Telegram could be a major boon for the former. The deal could give xAI access to valuable data that it can use to train and develop its AI models. As many open-source repositories have been exhausted, AI companies are finding it increasingly difficult to source quality data, making this deal even more valuable for xAI's future growth.
Strategy
xAI's data acquisition strategy
Notably, xAI isn't the only company looking to acquire data for training its AI models. Meta Platforms has also been using public interactions with AI as a means of model training. This is in line with X's privacy policy, which states that it uses public posts from users to train its AI models. However, it remains unclear if xAI plans to use Telegram's data in a similar manner.