Telegram and Musk in Dispute Over Truth... "Collaboration with xAI" vs "No Deal Signed"

The heads of Telegram and xAI are in a dispute over a partnership between the two companies. Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, announced a major business partnership with xAI, which was immediately refuted by Elon Musk, who leads xAI.

On the 28th (local time), CEO Durov announced on his X (formerly Twitter) account that "This summer, Telegram users will have access to the best AI technology in the market," and that they have signed a one-year partnership to integrate Musk's xAI's 'Grok' into all Telegram apps for over 1 billion Telegram users. He particularly emphasized that "This partnership will enhance Telegram's financial standing," and disclosed specific details that they will receive $300 million in cash and stock from xAI and 50% of the subscription revenue from xAI sold through Telegram.

In response to CEO Durov's unilateral announcement, CEO Musk immediately countered. Musk commented under Durov's X post, "No deal has been signed." Unlike his usual practice of expressing opinions on his X account, he publicly refuted by commenting on Durov's post. In response to Musk's comment, Durov replied in a sub-comment, "Musk is right," adding, "We agreed in principle, but the formalities are yet to be completed." Durov took a step back in the face of Musk's strong stance. Neither Telegram nor xAI released an official comment on the dispute between the two CEOs.

Although the dispute between the heads of both sides has overshadowed the situation, if the partnership is formalized, xAI is expected to use Telegram as a stronghold. Competing with xAI, Meta has integrated its AI model 'Meta AI' into the search bars of its SNS platforms Instagram and WhatsApp to increase user numbers. According to the US IT specialist media TechCrunch, Telegram is expected to integrate Grok into video uploads, enabling features like writing suggestions, chat summaries, and sticker creation.

Silicon Valley Correspondent Song Young-chan 0full@hankyung.com