Perplexity reportedly offered Telegram $350 million annually for integration

Perplexity is said to have approached Telegram with an offer to integrate its AI search assistant, according to reporting shared in a Telegram channel covering technology and digital platforms.

The offer was said to include up to $350 million per year in a mix of cash and equity. The equity portion has reportedly doubled in value since May 2025. The integration was also discussed for Snapchat. However, the deal did not move forward, and no official reason for the decision was disclosed.

On November 4, Pavel Durov briefly announced an official Perplexity chatbot in his Telegram channel but later deleted the post after the bot stopped functioning. At the time of writing, the bot is responding to general queries but does not process commands. It appears with verification status and has over 490,000 users.

The planned integration with Grok, Elon Musk’s AI model, was similarly announced on May 28, with an expected launch over the summer. The @GrokAI bot also remains inactive. Among officially functioning AI chatbots on Telegram, Copilot is currently available, with around 69,000 users.

Additionally, Telegram has not yet introduced the previously discussed feature that would allow AI chatbots to display responses gradually to simulate natural dialogue flow.