Grok will be available to all Telegram users — find out when

After quietly living inside X for months, it seems Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, has now found a new home in Telegram. The messaging app has struck a one-year partnership with Musk’s AI company, xAI, to bring Grok to its billion-plus users starting this summer.

As part of the deal, Telegram will receive $300 million in cash and equity, plus 50% of any Grok subscription revenue made through the app. CEO Pavel Durov made the announcement on X, calling it a move that “strengthens Telegram’s financial position.” Musk later chimed in to say the agreement is still pending formal signatures, but for all intents and purposes, the partnership is happening.

This rollout means Grok will no longer be limited to Telegram Premium users. Instead, it’ll be available to everyone—embedded directly into chats, search, and possibly even group tools. A video shared by Durov hints at features like smart text editing, chat and document summarization, writing suggestions, inbox agents, and even moderation support.

It’s a bold move, but not exactly surprising. Since launching Grok in late 2023, Musk has been steadily positioning it for mass adoption. First came the X integration, then the standalone app, and most recently, a merger that valued xAI and X together at nearly $80 billion. The Telegram deal now gives Grok something it hasn’t had yet, scale outside Musk’s own ecosystem.

For Telegram, it’s also a timely win. With over 15 million Premium subscribers and more than 1 billion monthly users globally, the platform has been actively exploring monetization beyond ads, crypto projects, and subscriptions.

It also puts Telegram in direct competition with Meta, which is currently embedding Meta AI across Instagram and WhatsApp, and even OpenAI, whose ChatGPT is already deeply integrated into mobile workflows.

But whether users will actually use Grok, or just ignore it, is another matter. Its reputation as an “uncensored” chatbot may appeal to some, but Telegram’s global user base is diverse, and expectations will vary.

Still, with Grok now moving from a side-project inside X to a front-facing feature in Telegram, Musk’s push for mainstream AI adoption is starting to look less hypothetical, and more like a rollout in real time.

Grok takes a step away from the X platform to reach a wider audience

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TechloyEmmanuel Oyedeji