.ai is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is administered by the government of Anguilla.
 | |
| Introduced | 16 February 1995 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | Offshore Information Services |
| Sponsor | Government of Anguilla |
| Intended use | Entities connected with Anguilla |
| Actual use | Some use in Anguilla; very popular with companies working in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. |
| Registered domains | 533,068 (October 2024)[1] |
| Registration restrictions | None |
| Structure | Registrations possible at third level, beneath several second-level labels, are available to anybody; second-level registrations are now available to anybody as well (as of 26 June 2006). |
| Dispute policies | UDRP |
| DNSSEC | No |
| Registry website | nic |
It is popular with companies and projects related to the artificial intelligence industry (AI).[2][3][4]
Google's ad targeting treats .ai as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) because "users and website owners frequently see [the domain] as being more generic than country-targeted."[5]
Second and third level registrations
editRegistrations within off.ai, com.ai, net.ai, and org.ai are available worldwide without restriction. From 15 September 2009, second level registrations within .ai are available to everyone worldwide.
Registration
editThe minimum registration term allowed for a .ai domain is 2 years for registration and 2 years for renewal. The authority in charge of managing this extension is “WHOIS.AI”. Registrations began on 1995-02-16. The minimum length is 2 and the maximum is 63 characters. There are no requirements for registering a domain, including local and foreign residents.
A .ai domain can be suspended or revoked, if the domain is involved in illegal activity such as violating trademarks or copyrights. Usage must not violate the laws of Anguilla.[6]
Anguilla uses the UDRP. Filing a UDRP challenge requires using one of the ICANN Approved Dispute Resolution Service Providers. If the domain is with an ICANN accredited registrar, they should work with the arbitrator. Usually this means either doing nothing or transferring a domain. .ai domains are transferable to any desired registrars as the registration of domain is done maintaining EPP.[7]
The character set supported for .ai domain names include A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and hyphen. As of November 2022, .ai domains cannot accommodate IDN characters.[8] The auction of expired .ai domains is undertaken every ten days where expired domains can be procured through the auction process.[9]
Valuation
editDomains are $180 for each two-year period. As of December 2017, the ".ai" registry supports Extensible Provisioning Protocol. Consequently, many registrars are allowed to sell ".ai" domains. Since then, the .ai ccTLD has also been popular with artificial intelligence companies and organizations. Though such trends are primarily seen among new AI based companies or startups, many established AI and Tech companies preferred not to opt for .ai domain. For example, DeepMind has its domain retained at .com; Meta has redirected its facebook.ai domain to ai.meta.com.[10]
As of November 2022, expert.ai is the most valued .ai domain that has been sold. The sell was brokered and mediated by Sedo in June 2020 and was finalized at €95,000 (about US$108,000).[11][12]
Impact on Anguilla's economy
editThe registration fees earned from the .ai domains go to the treasury of Government of Anguilla. As per a New York Times report, in 2018, the total revenue generated out of selling .ai domains was $2.9 million.[13][14]
In 2023, Anguilla’s government made about US$32 million from fees collected for registering .ai domains. That amounted to more than 10% of gross domestic product for the territory.[15][16]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "FAQ / Terms and Conditions". whois.ai. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
- ^ Purnell, Newley; Olson, Parmy (14 August 2019). "AI Startup Boom Raises Questions of Exaggerated Tech Savvy". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 27 January 2020 – via www.wsj.com.
- ^ "What's in a Name? Trends in Creating Robot and AI Company Names". Robotics Business Review. 12 June 2019. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- ^ Tung, Liam. "Why one tiny island is still a domain name giant". ZDNet.
- ^ "Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites". Archived from the original on 5 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ^ ".AI Domain". domaintyper.com. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ "Whois ai". whois.ai. Archived from the original on 30 April 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ "GoDaddy - About .ai Domains". www.godaddy.com. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
- ^ ".ai Domain Auctions | auction.whois.ai". auction.whois.ai. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ Chawla, Vishal (8 March 2020). "Is .AI Domain Name Extension Any Valuable For AI Startups Or Just A Marketing Ploy?". Analytics India Magazine. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ "Why .AI domain name has become so popular?". www.nominus.com. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ "Expert.ai domain sells for record €95,000". Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ Lohr, Steve (4 February 2020). "Tropical Breezes, Pristine Beaches and a Domain Name to Die For". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ Lohr, Steve (4 February 2020). "Anguilla, with its domain name, cashes in on a quirky trend". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ Collins, Barry. "The Tiny Caribbean Island That's Making A Fortune From AI". Forbes. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ "AI boom makes millions for unlikely industry player, Anguilla". The Straits Times. 24 March 2024. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 25 March 2024.