In the 1980s, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority distributed two-letter domains to countries that referred to their geographic location and name. Thus, the Caribbean island of Anguilla, which is an overseas territory of Great Britain, received the .ai extension, which in recent years turned out to be a goose laying golden eggs and guaranteed gigantic revenues.
Caribbean island profits from artificial intelligence
Anguilla, with an area of only 88 square kilometers, for a long time made its living mainly from tourism and fishing. However, the economic situation of the island changed dramatically in 2022, i.e. when ChatGPT appeared. It turns out that thanks to artificial intelligence, in just a few months, sales of the .ai domain increased almost fourfold. Since the island’s government deals with domain registration itself, almost all the money obtained from their sale goes to Anguilla’s budget.
– And this is only part of the general budget. The government can use it however it wants. But I noticed that they paid off some of their debt, which is quite unusual. They abolished property taxes on residential buildings. So I would say we are doing well, said Vince Cate, who manages domain registrations for the Anguilla government, in an interview with the website. According to Cate, the island currently earns about $3 million a month from domain sales.
The .ai domain is owned by real technological giants
However, Vince Cate predicts that the staggering $3 million figure could even double when the domains need to be renewed. By 2023, over 200,000 registrations have been made. If the number of domain registrations continues to grow, as Cate predicts, it is predicted that by 2025 the small island’s revenues from this alone will reach $72 million. Elon Musk’s startup xAI and even such large companies as Facebook and Google have invested in the .ai domain. According to the British daily “”. The largest amount concerned the purchase of the You.ia domain, which was sold for USD 700,000.
In turn, it reminds us that Anguilla is not the only country that has made money by registering domains. Earlier, Tuvalu – a country located in the Pacific Ocean in western Polynesia north of Fiji – came up with a similar idea. As Forbes emphasizes, Tuvalu has been cooperating with commercial partners for a long time to obtain a license for the .tv domain. Meanwhile, Anguilla – so far – is handling the registration itself.
Source: Gazeta
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