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.ai domains are the new big thing on the web. Luck of the Anguillans
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Anguilla, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean, used to be a little-known place, except to those looking for a holiday destination with paradisiacal beaches. But that changed with the generative AI revolution. Suddenly the island, with just 16,000 inhabitants, became a centerpiece of the digital future.
In the 1990s, the country received the .ai domain. At the time, gTLDs (generic top-level domains) didn't go much further than .com, .org, and .net. The expectation was that it would only be used by local companies and organizations. But, with the arrival of ChatGPT, this changed radically and demand exploded.
Today, more than half a million .ai domains are registered by Anguilla authorities, which until recently relied on a local company called DataHaven.net. Among them are x.ai and claude.ai, but, interestingly, open.ai is in a long legal dispute involving a person who claims to have created the name and concept before Sam Altman launched it in 2015.
THE boom of AI has resulted in a nearly 400% increase in domain registrations over the past five years. This increased interest brought a fortune to the island. In 2023, the country earned US$32 million from sales – 20% of all government revenue.
In 2017, when an academic article called “Attention Is All You Need” (attention is all you need) formalized the idea of transformers – the technology that gives rise to the “T” in ChatGPT –, Anguilla raised US$1 million from .ai domains.
But success came at a cost. The country's infrastructure and the company responsible for registration were not prepared for the exponential increase in demand generated by artificial intelligence. DataHaven was basically managed by a single person: Vince Cate. Therefore, Anguilla decided to change its strategy.
The government opened a tender for the management of .ai domain rights. The winner was Identity Digital, with an offer whose value was not revealed. The company manages 28 million domains through its registration services platform and owns almost 300 TLDs, such as .info, .pro and .live.
“There was a division of revenue”, says Ram Mohan, strategy director at Identity Digital. He revealed that the “vast majority” of profits will go to the government of Anguilla. As part of the agreement, the company also guaranteed a minimum income for the country.
In addition to the money – Mohan predicts that the island will receive double its 2023 revenue by the end of the year – Identity Digital promises to offer more security for the .ai gTLD, something that a smaller company would not be able to guarantee.
SECURITY ISSUES
Anguilla has faced cyber attacks against its domain provider, which has worried companies that use the .ai extension to host websites and services. “When AI stops being a product and becomes critical infrastructure for companies, questions arise like: 'will this scale? Will it work? Will it be faster?'”, explains Mohan.
In 2023, the country earned US$32 million from .ai domain registrations.
Identity Digital not only guaranteed protection against external attacks but also committed to combating attacks launched from .ai domains. Around two-thirds of the content hosted on these domains involves phishingsomething that both Anguilla and Identity Digital are working to eliminate.
“One of our first steps will be to ensure that the domain is properly protected,” says Mohan. “If there are cases of cyber occupation or use of the .ai name to phishingthese problems will be resolved quickly.”
The fact of being able to count on external services will also be essential, according to Mohan, who recalls that, in 2017, the island was without power for three months after Hurricane Irma hit. In a world where .ai domains are essential to digital society, this type of disruption would be unacceptable.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Stokel-Walker is a British journalist whose works are regularly published in outlets such as Wired, The Economist and Insider find out more
.ai domains are the new big thing on the web. Luck of the Anguillans
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.ai domains are the new big thing on the web. Luck of the Anguillans