Whether you love or hate Microsoft's Copilot AI, you won't be able to escape it anytime soon as it has recently been spotted tracking messaging apps, specifically Telegram. Microsoft appears to have sneakily introduced Copilot into the messaging app, allowing Telegram users to experience it firsthand.
According latest Windows, the move is part of a new Microsoft project called 'copilot-for-social', which is an initiative to bring generative AI to social media applications. The Copilot bot appears to currently work on Telegram in the US and UK (and possibly other regions). It is available for free, although it requires your phone number to work.
You can find the bot by typing '@CopilotOfficialBot' in the Telegram search bar, after which a new message thread will open and Copilot will give you a summary of everything it can do. Note that there is a query limit of 30 questions per day, but since you don't need to create a separate account and everything is completely free, it's not a bad setup.
Copilot appears to work similarly to how you use it on a PC. AI can also be used in the desktop, phone and web versions of Telegram.
cool, i hate it
From what we understand, the reason you need to verify your phone number to enable Copilot on Telegram is to prevent people within the EU from gaining access (probably due to stricter data regulations and laws in that region). We are sure that in time EU users will have the opportunity to try it out, but as of now 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 (we imagine there could be trust issues for some Telegram users). Also, this reminds me of Snapchat's AI chatbot, a rather strange affair that died as quickly as it appeared.
It seems like it's getting harder to escape generative AI chatbots, as Telegram surely won't be the end of Copilot's mobile integration plans. Microsoft could also push integration with WhatsApp, Messenger, and more, which, frankly, I would find unbearable.
Hopefully Microsoft will stick with the non-invasive setup that Copilot seems to have on Telegram, where you have to actively search for it, rather than having the AI inserted into your messages somehow by default.
