Microsoft brings Copilot to Telegram

Microsoft is sneaking its AI assistant into the places you actually hang out, starting with Telegram.

According to Windows Latest, the company quietly launched an official Copilot bot inside the messaging app. Running under the verified handle @CopilotOfficialBot, the free beta is now available across Telegram's mobile, desktop, and web apps.

A lightweight assistant with strings attached

Once you search for the bot, setup is quick, but it comes with a noticeable catch: Copilot asks you to share your Telegram phone number with Microsoft before you can start chatting.

As TechRadar noted, this verification step is likely designed to filter out users in the European Union, where strict data privacy laws have delayed rollouts. Still, demanding a phone number feels ironic on an app famous for its privacy-obsessed and crypto-heavy crowd.

In terms of features, this is a trimmed-down Copilot. It is purely text-based with zero image-generation capabilities, though it can still search the web in real time. Microsoft says it can help with movie picks, workout routines, basic coding tasks, and conversation translations. However, users are capped at 30 query turns per day.

Reports indicate this integration is part of an internal Microsoft initiative dubbed copilot-for-social, aimed at bringing generative AI to mainstream social platforms.

Why it matters

Microsoft has Copilot baked into Windows, Word, Teams, and dedicated Copilot+ PCs, but it completely lacks a dominant consumer messaging app on mobile. While Meta pushes Meta AI across WhatsApp and Instagram, and Google embeds Gemini directly into Android Messages, Microsoft has to play guest on someone else's platform.

For everyday Telegram users, having a free web-connected research buddy inside your chat list is convenient. You can quickly fact-check a sports score or translate a sentence without switching apps. But with a strict 30-message daily cap and no image support, it will not replace the full Copilot app for heavy work.

We think Microsoft's strategy here makes sense, but the execution hits an awkward cultural snag. Telegram's community values anonymity, so putting a phone-number gate right at onboarding creates immediate friction. The saving grace is that Microsoft made the bot completely opt-in rather than pinning it to the top of everyone's inbox like Snapchat infamously did with My AI.