🧠 Pavel Durov Speaks Out: Real AI, Legal Fights, and the Future of Telegram

Founder. Fugitive. Futurist. In his boldest interview yet, Pavel Durov breaks the silence — from French jailhouse politics to a new kind of artificial intelligence that could outthink today’s LLMs.

This isn’t just about Telegram. It’s about freedom, censorship, and what AI was always meant to be.

🧬 “Real AI”: Nikolai Durov’s Brainchild

Forget ChatGPT. Pavel says today’s AI is just “text prediction with delusions of grandeur.”

His brother Nikolai Durov is working on something radically different — a scalable, logic-driven AI that actually understands the world. Not just simulates language.

💡 A new AI architecture 🧠 Not prompt-based, but logic-native 🔧 To be baked into Telegram's future — with developer tools, smart assistants, and on-chain integration

It’s not an upgrade. It’s a reboot.

🔒 Jail, Judges, and a €5M Bail

Since August 2024, Pavel has been trapped in France over drug trafficking and money laundering accusations.

🚔 Detained without trial 🚫 Can’t leave France 💶 Slapped with €5 million bail 👶 Missed the birth of his child

He calls it politically motivated theatre, arguing Telegram can’t be held liable for what users post — no more than “email is responsible for spam.”

His words:

“I’m being punished without a crime.”

🌐 Telegram ≠ Russia. Period.

Pavel left Russia over a decade ago — refusing Kremlin censorship in 2014 and never looking back.

He stays neutral, even in war zones, insisting:

✅ Telegram is not pro-Russia, anti-Ukraine, or vice versa ✅ No state decides what stays up or goes down ✅ He refused France’s request to delete political channels during Romanian elections

This isn't rebellion. It’s code-level independence.

💰 Billion-Euro App, Zero Luxury

Telegram made over €500 million in revenue in 2024. But Pavel?

🚫 Owns no houses, jets, or yachts 🥦 Eats like a monk (no coffee, sugar, alcohol, or even a smartphone) 📜 Wrote a will to lock his wealth from his kids for 30 years

Telegram, he says, is a cost center, not a personal cash machine.

“I built it to serve, not to sell.”

🛡️ Telegram Works With the Law (Yes, Even French Authorities)

Despite his legal hell, Pavel says Telegram:

🔍 Deletes millions of dangerous messages daily 👮 Collaborates with law enforcement on terrorism and abuse cases 🔐 Balances freedom of expression with real-world safety

And guess who supported him during the storm? Elon Musk and Edward Snowden. That’s who.

🤖 The AI Future: Telegram x Grok x Blockchain

Telegram is now teaming up with xAI’s Grok, aiming to embed smart agents directly into chats.

Coming soon:

⚙️ Custom AI assistants for every user 📲 Dev-friendly APIs and SDKs inside Telegram 🔗 Blockchain-backed AI infra, led by Nikolai Durov

The vision: Telegram becomes the OS for decentralized intelligence.

🧘 The Metaphysical Side of Durov

He also dropped some philosophy:

🌍 Believes reality might be a simulation 🧬 Warns about microplastics and health collapse 💭 Sees spirituality as a return to ancient truths — just with code

He’s not just building apps. He’s thinking about what it means to be human in the age of machines.

🧭 TL;DR

🧠 Nikolai Durov is building real AI, not ChatGPT 2.0 ⚖️ Pavel faces politically charged charges in France 🚫 Telegram refuses censorship demands — from Russia or France 💸 Telegram makes millions, but Durov lives minimalist 🤝 Telegram works with police, fighting crime, not hosting it 📲 Future = Telegram + AI + blockchain = programmable communication

Pavel Durov doesn’t want to sell you a product. He wants to liberate your mind with code.