Over a million .ai top-level domains: No end to the windfall for Anguilla
Every week, the number of registered internet domains with .ai grows by one percent, and the revenues for Anguilla keep pouring in.
(Image: Derson Santana/Shutterstock.com)
The number of registered .ai domains continues to rise rapidly, bringing an ever-increasing stream of money to the Caribbean island of Anguilla. Last week, Prime Minister Cora Richardson Hodge announced that the total number of domains has surpassed the one million mark. The growth rate has recently been one percent per week, explained IT Minister José Vanterpool in the autumn. The government has repeatedly assured that the booming revenues will be invested in long-term projects; according to the newspaper Anguilla Focus, roads have been renovated and the airport expanded with these funds. Furthermore, the country has been able to make health insurance for young children free of charge.
Rapid Growth
It became public knowledge at the beginning of 2024 that the AI hype has brought enormous financial benefits to the British Overseas Territory in the Lesser Antilles. AI is the English abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence and is therefore particularly popular with a wide variety of AI companies. For each address, Anguilla receives between 140 and several thousand US dollars annually, depending on the success of the associated auction. At the same time, most domains are only sold for two years at a time, which further increases their value. Recently, individual .ai domains have been sold for hundreds of thousands of US dollars.
According to Anguilla Focus, the country has earned approximately 59 million Euros from the domains up to and including November, significantly more than the total sum of 32 million Euros from the previous year and more than double the amount from 2023. Before the current AI hype, things looked very different; not even the country's news sites used the domain. After the AI hype began, the island, with just 16.000 inhabitants, did not want to rely on the money continuing to flow indefinitely, but so far, there is no end in sight. In December, the government announced the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund to secure the revenues for future generations.
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The events are reminiscent of similar stories from other island nations whose TLDs have brought them unexpected income: Tuvalu, for example, has managed to generate about ten percent of its gross domestic product with its .tv domain. Micronesia's .fm domain is very popular with radio stations and podcasters, Tonga's .to domain with torrent and illegal streaming websites. And Tokelau has ruined its reputation with its TLD because .tk is often used by scammers.
(mho)
