Media: Telegram and the FSB — what is known

This week, journalists from "Important Stories" released an investigation which discusses possible close ties between Telegram and Russian intelligence services. Journalists found that Telegram's infrastructure is serviced by companies that are alleged to simultaneously fulfill contracts for the FSB — Russian intelligence service.

The investigation also claims that a vulnerability in the messenger's protocol, which allows for the tracking of user activity and movements worldwide, could have been intentionally created for the needs of Russian intelligence services.

The reaction from Telegram and its key network partner, GNM Inc., only added more questions. In their rebuttals, they either denied theses that weren't in the investigation to begin with or made statements that contradicted the facts.

@tginfo conducted its own analysis. In the article, we analyze the technical nuances of the vulnerability, assess the reality of the threats, and weigh the arguments of all sides.

Our conclusion: there is no direct evidence of cooperation between Telegram and the FSB, but the suspicious partners, the ignoring of inconvenient questions, the lack of transparency, and the messenger's often reckless attitude towards privacy and security are problems that cannot be ignored.

Considering all this, we do not advise using either cloud or secret chats in Telegram if you have a reason to be concerned about your security. The messenger can only rectify this situation with significant changes in the company's culture.

https://tginfo.me/tg-fsb-overview-en/

Grok Integration

Pavel Durov announced that Telegram has reached an agreement with Elon Musk to integrate Grok into the messenger this summer.

The one-year partnership will give Telegram users access to xAI’s Grok chatbot.

Telegram will receive $300 million in cash and equity from xAI, as well as 50% of revenue from xAI subnoscriptions sold through Telegram. Grok may be sold as a separate subnoscription.

Privacy
Pavel Durov claims that Telegram will only send Grok the data that the user and their chat partners decide to share. The founder of the messenger did not specify whether xAI has the right to train its models on data received from Telegram users.

Note that these words should not be taken as a long-term guarantee — Telegram has changed its approach to privacy in the past, even after making promises.

What features can we expect?
In his post, Pavel Durov presented a video concept of future features. It is worth noting that in their final forms, the features may not work as shown in the demonstration.

1. Grok pinned for all users (0:02)
It is likely that the bot can be unpinned — there is an “unpin” button displayed in the video.

2. Questions through global search (0:04)
A Grok button will appear in global search, clicking on which sends the search query to the Grok chatbot.

3. Communication in threads (0:08)
Communication with Grok may be done in several threads in parallel, the interface will look similar to forums, but in private with the bot.

4. Editing text before sending (0:12)
Upon selecting text in the message input field and pressing “AI Tools”, you will be offered options to rewrite the text: to “Improve”, “Expand”, or “Change Tone”. The new menu is added right before Formatting options in the floating bar.

5. Chat summarization (0:16)
By holding down the unread message indicator, you may select the “Summarize” option to get a summary of the chat’s unread messages.

The interface also shows a selector for the range of messages the model will have access to, and the tone of the narrative. It may be possible to get a summary not only for unread messages, but also for messages you choose.

6. Document summarization (0:20)
In the context menu of PDF files uploaded to Telegram, you will be able to select the “Summarize” option to get a digest of the text inside, without opening the file.

7. Link summarization (0:24)
If you long press a link in a message and select the “Summarize” option, the chatbot will generate a digest of the Instant View article. The summary text may be listened to as audio.

It is not clear whether this function will be available for links without Instant View.

8. Moderating groups (0:28)
Automated moderation of group chats is shown.

In the example, Grok issues a warning to the user and threatens with a ban for repeated violations. How exactly admins will be able to set rules and control the number of warnings is unclear.

9. Grok in 1-on-1 chats (0:32)
It will be possible to configure the chatbot so that it responds in personal messages on behalf of the user. The video also shows how you will be able to monitor the bot’s responses in real time and a button to intercept control.

10. Fact-checking in channels (0:36)
A “Fact-Check” button will appear in the context menu of messages in channels.

What sources the model will use and how reliable such reviews will be is unknown.

11. Generating stickers (0:40)
The sticker editor will allow you to describe the desired sticker using text to generate new stickers, including video stickers.

12. Generating avatars (0:44)
Similar to stickers, it will be possible to generate avatars for your profile.

In the video, the user asks to change the background of their avatar, while the user’s face is preserved. Perhaps users will be able to not only generate images from scratch, but also ask to edit their own photos.

#Grok #AI

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