Riddles about internet addresses: These two letters are worth millions

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The shorter it is, the more expensive it is: Internet addresses are a rare commodity, and when they have a catchy name they are really expensive. The loft between addresses is currently “ai.com”. AI is the abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence. The domain has increased in value since the hype surrounding ChatGPT and other text bots. It is estimated to be worth millions.

ai.com was registered on May 4, 1993, long before the current excitement. The address has changed hands several times in the last 30 years. A look at the Internet Archive shows that ai.com was once a search engine (2004), once was the website of an Internet service provider (1999), and once belonged to a club in Colorado that collected wooden baskets and Christmas decorations (1998). is seen.

Dozens of offers for ai.com

Over the past few months ai.com has pointed to many other websites. At the beginning of 2023, the letters arrived at OpenAI, the company behind the ChatGPT text bot. It is said that the address was later sold to Elon Musk’s X company. Because with ai.com, as of January 2024, you get x.ai and Musk’s text robot Grok. He is said to have dug deep into his pockets for the domain name.

It seemed like many interested parties were vying for the hot address. “I received dozens of offers every week ranging from hundreds of thousands to a million dollars,” domain name seller Jeffrey Gabriel told mashable.com in 2023. According to Gabriel, ai.com was being sold for $11 million. It is unknown how much Elon Musk actually paid.

Did Google take over ai.com?

In February 2024, things get weird: For several days, ai.com showed a video on artificial intelligence by YouTuber MKBHD. How this came about is a mystery. Even the YouTuber himself doesn’t know who is behind this. However, he made the following statement on Threads: “I did not purchase Ai.com. But the owner probably decided to link the website to my video; thank you for that,” the YouTuber said.

“Whoever owns ai.com is making fun of Big Tech,” the Androidpolice.com platform recently wrote. Since February 28, ai.com has given way to the internet giant’s text robot gemini.google.com. Did Google steal the address from Musk? Google Switzerland media office cannot answer this question.

A query using the Whois protocol will only show that the domain name is registered through the website host Squarespace. An email address from Google Domains is also provided. Blick’s request has so far gone unanswered. Google Domains used to offer domain name registrations. However, in 2023, all of these accounts were transferred to Squarespace. It cannot be said for sure whether ai.com is now owned by Google. But it’s unlikely that a third party will connect to Google and generate much traffic.

Source :Blick