Microsoft launches its Copilot bot on Telegram
Telegram has been a real phenomenon lately: a messenger that started out as an independent project, not backed by any major transnational corporation (although founded by Pavel Durov, an IT prodigy), successfully weathered competition with WhatsApp and the like, and managed to not just get a foothold but build a foundation that supports its continued growth.
Today, the messenger counts billions of users all over the world. Moreover, it sets trends for the entire industry. Consider bots, for example, which, among other things, allow integrating external services into Telegram's ecosystem. And if Microsoft, one of the largest businesses in the world (overall, not just in the IT realm), decides it's time to make one of its flagship products available there, this must mean something.
Copilot – Microsoft's product now accessible on Telegram – is a chatbot that relies on OpenAI's ChatGPT4 large language model. The developer received over $10 billion in processing capacities (mostly, but not exclusively) from the giant, and now the latter, naturally, seeks return on investment. Moreover, Copilot is something Microsoft heavily bets on, to the point of putting it in the name of its next line of laptops. While these sorts of businesses can afford a failure – Apple's electric car project is probably the most vivid example thereof – this undertaking doesn't seem to be a risky affair, steadily receiving positive reviews all around.
To start using Microsoft's Copilot on Telegram, you have to spark a conversation with @CopilotOfficialBot. It'll ask if you're ok with sharing your phone number (the one you have registered your Telegram account to) with Microsoft; otherwise, it looks like a no-strings-attached deal, no payments involved. So far, at least.
A word of caution...
Although Microsoft explicitly suggests that you can ask Copilot for answers about anything and traveling advice in particular, don't take whatever the AI returns in response to your query without a grain of salt. Those using large language models on a regular basis, as part of their work, know that they can... invent things, so to say. Be overcreative. Thus, whatever suggestions Copilot gives, on Telegram or anywhere else, double check them before acting on them.
And to understand the degree of precision and truthfulness you can expect from an AI, ask it to list 5 to 10 most prominent sights or top restaurants in your own city. Chances are, some items will raise your eyebrow.
