.ai

Overview

.ai is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Anguilla. Introduced in 1995, the extension is widely used as a domain hack by companies and projects related to artificial intelligence (AI). The registry supports DNSSEC and registrants worldwide can obtain domains under .ai.

History

• Introduced: 16 February 1995.
• Sponsoring authority: Government of Anguilla; Identity Digital began managing the domain in January 2025.
• EPP migration: The registry moved to an Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) system (migration noted on 16 December 2017).
• Second-level registrations: Registrations under labels such as com.ai, net.ai, org.ai and off.ai have been available worldwide; general second-level registrations were opened to everyone from 15 September 2009.
• Auctions/expired names: The registry operated an expired-domain auction platform (auction.whois.ai); the platform held auctions through December 2024 and was scheduled for shutdown mid-2025 but remained accessible as of mid-2025.

Usage and Audience

• Primary audiences:
  • AI startups and businesses using ".ai" as an industry-relevant brand signal.
  • Domain investors and speculators seeking short or memorable AI-related names.
  • Entities in or associated with Anguilla.
• Corporate behaviour:
  • Many large tech firms reserve .ai names defensively but often keep primary services on .com.
  • Some established AI/tech companies avoid switching primary domains to .ai, while newer startups frequently adopt it for branding.
• Economic impact on Anguilla:
  • Revenue from .ai registrations is collected by the Anguilla government and contributes materially to the territory's finances.
  • Reported figures include about US$2.9 million (reported by The New York Times) and roughly US$32 million in 2023 (reported in later coverage), representing a substantial share of Anguilla's GDP.

Registration Rules

• Eligibility and restrictions:
  • Registrations are available worldwide; no local-residency requirement.
  • Usage must not violate the laws of Anguilla.
  • Dispute policy: UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy) applies; registrants may use ICANN-approved dispute resolution providers.
• Suspension/revocation grounds (examples summarized):
  • Illegal content (e.g., child sexual abuse material), fraud, phishing, copyright/trademark violations.
  • Sites engaging in dishonest financial schemes, unlicensed financial services, gambling without license, or other prohibited activities.
  • Domains listed as scams by reputable monitoring agencies or registrants with prior offenses.
• Technical and policy details:
  • Registration term: minimum 2 years; registrars offer registration/renewal terms from 2 up to 10 years; transfers typically require a 2-year renewal term.
  • Character set: letters (A–Z, a–z), digits (0–9) and hyphen; domains cannot begin or end with a hyphen and cannot contain multiple consecutive hyphens in some cases.
  • Length limits: maximum 63 characters; minimum length varies by registrar (examples: GoDaddy 1–63, OpenSRS 3–63, others 2–63).
  • IDNs: .ai domains did not support Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) as of November 2022.
  • Protocols: EPP is supported for registration and transfers.

SEO and Brand Impact

• Search engines and targeting:
  • Google treats .ai as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) for ad targeting because many users and site owners view it as generic rather than country-specific.
• Brand positioning:
  • Using .ai signals an AI focus and can be an effective branding/marketing tool for startups and AI projects.
  • Some organizations view .ai as primarily a marketing tactic; many established companies maintain .com for primary presence while reserving .ai defensively.
• Perception and trust:
  • The extension is increasingly recognizable within AI and tech communities, but perception varies by audience and use case.

Notable Cases or Examples

• High-value sales:
  • An undisclosed .ai domain sold via Escrow.com on 8 November 2023 for US$1,500,000 (reported).
  • fin.ai was publicly reported as sold for US$1,000,000 in March 2025.
• Corporate examples:
  • Some major AI/tech firms reserve .ai domains for defensive purposes; DeepMind retains a .com domain and Meta has redirected facebook.ai to ai.meta.com.
• Pricing and retail costs:
  • Registry wholesale/base fees are set by Anguilla; retail registrar prices vary (examples in coverage ranged roughly US$140–200 per year depending on registrar and fees).

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       AI

organisation: Government of Anguilla
address:      Coronation Avenue, PO Box 60
address:      The Valley AI2640
address:      Anguilla

contact:      administrative
name:         Telecommunications Officer
organisation: Government of Anguilla, Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Utilities
address:      Coronation Avenue, PO Box 60
address:      The Valley AI2640
address:      Anguilla
phone:        +1 264 497 5233
e-mail:       telecommunications.office@gov.ai

contact:      technical
name:         Telecommunications Officer
organisation: Government of Anguilla
address:      Coronation Avenue, PO Box 60
address:      The Valley AI2640
address:      Anguilla
phone:        +12644975233
e-mail:       telecommunications.office@gov.ai

nserver:      V0N0.NIC.AI 199.115.152.1 2001:500:a0:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      V0N1.NIC.AI 199.115.153.1 2001:500:a1:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      V0N2.NIC.AI 199.115.154.1 2001:500:a2:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      V0N3.NIC.AI 199.115.155.1 2001:500:a3:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      V2N0.NIC.AI 199.115.156.1 2001:500:a4:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      V2N1.NIC.AI 199.115.157.1 2001:500:a5:0:0:0:0:1
ds-rdata:     3799 8 2 8a8030d4661ae6fcf417349682ac058648371002e70e717e4cf2f11f83543385

whois:        whois.nic.ai

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: https://nic.ai

created:      1995-02-16
changed:      2025-02-11
source:       IANA