Musk’s xAI to use Dubai-based Telegram to roll out its Grok chatbot

Dubai-based Telegram said it has entered a US$300 million deal with Elon Musk’s xAI, the owner of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), to deploy Grok, the company’s AI chatbot.

In a post on X, Telegram founder Pavel Durov said on Wednesday night: “This summer, Telegram users will gain access to the best AI technology on the market. @elonmusk and I have agreed to a 1-year partnership to bring xAI’s @grok to our billion+ users and integrate it across all Telegram apps.

“This also strengthens Telegram’s financial position: we will receive $300M in cash and equity from xAI, plus 50% of the revenue from xAI subscriptions sold via Telegram. Together, we win.”

However, Musk responded to the post, saying: “No deal has been signed.”

Durov then replied to Musk’s tweet, adding: “True. Agreed in principle, but formalities are pending.”

True. Agreed in principle, but formalities are pending.

— Pavel Durov (@durov) May 28, 2025

Durov, who has UAE citizenship after moving his company headquarters to Dubai in 2017, said xAI will only access data that Telegram users explicitly share with Grok through direct interactions.

“User privacy is paramount. To be clear, xAI will only access data that Telegram users explicitly share with Grok through direct interactions. That’s expected – you can’t message anyone (including a chatbot) without sharing what you write,” Durov posted.

According to a Reuters report, the deal could provide xAI, which acquired X earlier this year, with valuable data to train and develop its AI models.

With many open-source repositories exhausted, AI companies face increasing challenges in sourcing quality data, pushing firms such as Meta Platforms to utilise public interactions with AI for model training.