The .ai domain: history and market timeline, 1995–2026

What .ai is

.ai is the country-code top-level domain of Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It was delegated in February 1995 and for most of its life was a small national domain. Two things changed that: the letters happen to spell the name of the technology, and in 2021 Google began treating .ai as a generic domain for search, so a .ai site is not geo-targeted to Anguilla. When generative AI reached the mainstream, .ai became the extension the industry reached for first.

The timeline

1. Feb 1995.ai is delegated as Anguilla’s country-code top-level domain.
2. 2018.ai brings Anguilla about US$2.9 million in total revenue.
3. Early 2020Roughly 40,000 .ai domains are registered.
4. 2021Google adds .ai to its list of country-code domains treated as generic for search.
5. 30 Nov 2022ChatGPT launches, and demand for AI-native names accelerates.
6. 2023.ai revenue reaches about EC$87 million (about US$32 million), more than 10% of Anguilla’s GDP.
7. Nov 2023An undisclosed .ai name sells for US$1.5 million through Escrow.com.
8. Oct 2024Anguilla signs a five-year agreement with Identity Digital to manage .ai.
9. 2024.ai revenue rises to about EC$104 million (about US$39 million).
10. Jan 2025.ai moves to Identity Digital’s registry platform; around this time roughly 587,000 names are registered.
11. Mar 2025Industry sources report a $1 million sale of Fin.ai; the price is never confirmed. Separately, Google Trends data shows search interest in “AI agents” up about 900% over twelve months.
12. 2025.ai revenue reaches EC$230.5 million (about US$85 million); Anguilla’s government expects .ai to provide close to half of its revenue.
13. 20 Jan 2026.ai passes one million registered domains.
14. Feb 2026AI.com sells for a reported $70 million to Crypto.com founder Kris Marszalek, the largest domain sale ever reported. Later that month Bot.ai sells for $1.2 million through Sedo, the first seven-figure .ai sale publicly confirmed by a marketplace. Monthly .ai revenue sets a record of EC$32.8 million.
15. 5 Mar 2026The wholesale fee rises about 14%, from $70 to $80 a year — $160 for the minimum two-year term.
16. Apr 2026Public .ai aftermarket sales for the preceding six months are down 26% in number but up 16% in average price, according to one tracker of reported sales.
17. Jun 2026Registrations reach 1,277,727.
18. Aug 2026Escrow.com reports a record US$37.7 million of .ai sales in the second quarter of 2026, with the average exact-word .ai sale at $535,000.

What the timeline shows

Read together, the dates point to three shifts. This section is our analysis of the record above, not a forecast.

• Growth came from the AI wave, not from Anguilla. Registrations rose roughly thirty-fold, from about 40,000 in early 2020 to almost 1.28 million by mid-2026, and Anguilla’s revenue from the extension multiplied in step.
• The market has split by quality. The count of low-priced public resales is falling while average prices and top-tier sales are rising. Defining names are holding value; filler names are not.
• Holding costs are rising. A two-year minimum and the March 2026 increase make every name more expensive to carry, which pushes owners to drop weaker names and keep the strong ones. Supply of the best names is concentrating among holders who intend to keep them.

What it means if you are buying a .ai name

• Budget for the carry. Model at least five years of renewals at the renewal rate, not the first-year price. See what a .ai domain costs to hold.
• Pair it with the .com where you can. The defensive .com protects the brand whichever extension leads. Compare .ai, .io and .com.
• Price on comparable sales and fit. Headline sales are outliers; the useful anchor is comparable names plus the value to your company. How to value a premium domain.
• Clear trademarks first. A strong exact-match term can collide with an existing mark; check before you commit.

This timeline is general market information compiled from the public sources listed, not financial, investment or legal advice. Figures in EC$ are converted at the fixed rate of EC$2.70 to US$1 and rounded. Reported sale prices are as published; verify current figures before acting.