Whether you love Microsoft’s Copilot AI or hate it, you can’t escape it as it has recently been noticed in messaging apps, most notably Telegram. Microsoft appears to have sneakily introduced Copilot to the messaging app, allowing Telegram users to experience it firsthand.
According to Windows LatestThe move is part of a new project from Microsoft called ‘copilot-for-social’, an initiative to bring generative AI to social media apps. The Copilot bot currently appears to be working in Telegram in the US and UK (and possibly other regions). It’s available for free, but you do need your phone number for it to work.
You can find the bot by typing “@CopilotOfficialBot” into Telegram’s search bar, which will open a new message thread and Copilot will give you an overview of everything it can do. Keep in mind that there is a query limit of 30 queries per day, but since you don’t have to create a separate account and it’s all completely free, that’s not a bad setup.
Copilot seems to work similarly to how you use it on a PC. The AI can also be used on the desktop, phone and web versions of Telegram.
Great, I hate it
From what we understand, the reason you need to verify your phone number to enable Copilot in Telegram is to prevent people within the EU from accessing it (likely due to data regulations and stricter laws in that region). We are sure that EU users will get a chance to try it out in time, but from now on they will have to wait.
Copilot may be exciting news for some, but others may not like the idea of an AI having access to their messaging app (there may be trust issues for some Telegram users, we imagine). Plus, this gives me flashbacks to Snapchat’s AI chatbot, a rather bizarre affair that died as quickly as it showed up.
It seems like generative AI chatbots are becoming increasingly difficult to escape, as Telegram certainly won’t be the end of Copilot’s mobile integration plans. Microsoft could also insist on integration with WhatsApp, Messenger and more, which I would honestly find intolerable.
Hopefully Microsoft will stick with the non-invasive setup that Copilot seems to have in Telegram, where you have to actively search for it, rather than somehow putting the AI into your messages by default.