What’s the news? Microsoft has announced that its generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Copilot will now be available within Telegram. Copilot for Telegram allows users to message the bot just like you would message any other user on the platform. Users can ask Copilot for Telegram to perform tasks such as showing them videos, making travel plans, or creating a workout routine. Users can even ask Copilot to summarize news events. Copilot for Telegram is currently limited to only written queries. It can also only give back written responses and cannot generate images.
The responses typically come within a link that cites the source of the information that Copilot shared with you.
Microsoft isn’t the only company linking its AI offering to a messaging service. In April, Meta announced the integration of Meta AI into Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Similarly, Google has integrated its generative AI chatbot Gemini into Google Messages.
Why are tech companies integrating AI inside chat platforms?
A critical question about these launches is: Why is there a need for an AI chatbot in communication platforms? One possible answer could be data. If you take a quick look at Microsoft’s privacy statement (which, by the way, the Copilot for Telegram makes you accept before you can chat with it) you will see that the company uses data that it collects from its users to “build, train, and improve the accuracy of our automated methods of processing (including artificial intelligence or AI)”
The launch of AI models within calling and messaging platforms provides them with an additional data source, which can be used to enhance performance
Notably, when Meta announced the integration of Meta AI in its messaging services, it said that the integration would allow users to have “real-time information from across the web without having to bounce between apps,” which is similar to what Copilot would be able to provide via its Telegram integration as well.
But this raises the question: if all your answers came from a chatbot, who would ever go to the website? Previously, we noted that AI integration into search can fundamentally change how search, SEO, web traffic, and advertisements work, as user queries are more likely to be answered by generative AI before users scroll down to find relevant websites.
A recent lawsuit filed by newspapers in the US against Microsoft and OpenAI tells us that publications are also concerned about how AI’s ability to summarize their website’s content can impact readership.
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