All regarding these popular .AI domain names
.AI domain names are very popular right now, but buyers ought to know what they are getting.
.AI domain names have become popular over the past year thanks to the explosion of Artificial Intelligence firms. Artificial intelligence is a mouthful, so a lot of people use AI for short.
What better domain for an AI firm than .AI, right? Well, maybe. Here’s what you ought to know regarding the .AI domain name ahead of you commit to using one for your firm’s website and email address.
.AI isn’t short for Artificial Intelligence
OK, people in the domain name world by now know this, but many of the people registering these domain names don’t know that .AI is actually short for Anguilla.
Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean that has a population of just 15,000 or so. Its economy depends on tourism and offshore banking. And, as a reader pointed out in the comments, Google doesn’t treat .AI as an international domain. It assumes the content is targeting Anguilla. All 15,000 of the people there…
The management of .AI is very manual
Registering and updating .AI domain names can take time. There’s literally a guy named Vincent in Anguilla who handles these domains (and he uses a Gmail address).
Having one guy in charge of this also means there’s a single point of failure. And it’s fair to question the security of this zone, but more on that later.
How much do .AI domain names cost?
You’re going to pay at least $100 to register a .AI domain name and that covers the minimum two-year registration or renewal. This might seem like a lot, but people who registered domains in the late nineties were paying this much for .com domains.
If you want just one domain name, or you don’t want to deal with some hassles I’m regarding to write regarding, then 101Domain is probably your best bet. They charge $79.99 per year…but remember that you have to pay for two years at a time.
If you want to register multiple .AI domains, then you’re better off going directly to Vincent.
To do that, go to whois.ai and sign up. You have to pay $100 to get an account, but then you’ll pay just $100 per two-year registration following that.
Vincent is a big fan of getting paid in bitcoin, but you can also use a credit card.
Can I transfer .AI domain names?
Yes, but it’s old school. The buyer will need to pay the fee to set up an account and then you have to change the email address for the domain you are transferring to the fresh owner.
Doesn’t sound very secure to you? Then Vincent will handle escrow for you if you pay with Bitcoin. He charges 1/5 of a bitcoin plus 2%.
