What is the impact on British Anguilla, which owns the '.ai' domain, in the AI era?

Anguilla, a British colony in the West Indies in the Caribbean, is made up of small islands with a population of 15,000. The characteristic industry is lobster fishing and its export, but since '.ai' has been assigned as a top-level domain for each country, the impact is expected in the future, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers of America The magazine 'IEEE Spectrum' is interviewing local domain personnel.

Why the AI Boom is a Windfall for Tiny Anguilla - IEEE Spectrum

Vince Cate, who came to the island in 1994, is in charge of domain management for the Anguilla government. At the time, there was no email or internet in Anguilla, but Kate wanted to get an .ai domain somehow, so she contacted John Postel of the IANA, which manages domain name allocation. is. At that time, the .ai domain was still vacant, so Mr. Postel asked, ``Do you want to use .ai?'' When Kate answered, ``Yes,'' it was decided that the .ai domain could be used. thing.

But at one point, he decided the .ai domain wasn't his and changed his contact information to the Anguilla government.

Apparently there was a time when a Taiwanese company contacted the government and obtained the rights, saying they wanted a domain, but the company lost contact with them after a few years, and they somehow managed to get it back. that's right.

The fact that the .ai domain can be used outside of Anguilla is thanks to a company different from this Taiwanese company managing it. The company apparently thought that since 'ai' means 'love' in China, they could sell it to Chinese websites. However, Kate said that from that time, she thought that artificial intelligence (AI) would be a better market.

In fact, sales from .ai domains have quadrupled in the five months since ChatGPT was released at the end of November 2022.

The profits brought from domains are equivalent to 443 million yen per month, all of which come from new domain registrations. If this trend continues, it is expected that the monthly fee will jump to the equivalent of 886 million yen when it is renewed in one year.

The proceeds are included in part of the government budget, used to redeem national bonds, and are said to be so rich that the fixed asset tax can be abolished.