ICANN Reveals 1,615 Applications for New Domain Suffixes, Led by AI Terms
The first new-domain round since 2012 was pitched as an open naming window, but AI companies moved into it as a land grab over the words that name their own technology.
Reporting from 1 source: GIGAZINE.
ICANN published the applications it received for new generic top-level domains during a window that ran from April 30 to August 12, totaling 1,615 bids from 481 applicants. Google's registry subsidiary, Meta, and OpenAI are among those seeking strings such as .agent, .agi, .asi, and .superintelligence. Overlapping strings will go through a Community Priority Evaluation, and unresolved ones to auction.
ICANN accepted applications from April 30 to August 12, and the 1,615 bids came from 481 applicants. By region, 864 came from North America, 506 from Europe, 218 from Asia-Pacific, 16 from Africa, and 11 from Latin America and the Caribbean. Where strings overlap, ICANN will run a Community Priority Evaluation to pick the applicant best suited to that string; if that process settles nothing, the domain goes to auction. AI terms carry the most bids, with .agent drawing 13 applicants and .agi drawing seven.
- .agent: 13 applicants including Meta and OpenAI
- .agi: 7 applicants including OpenAI
- .superintelligence: Meta and others applied
- .asi: 6 applicants including OpenAI
- .alphabet: Alphabet applied; 39 domains total
- .chromebook: Alphabet
- .deepmind: Alphabet
- .fitbit: Alphabet
- .facebook: Meta; 18 domains total
- .instagram: Meta
- meta: Meta
- .threads: Meta
- .openai: OpenAI; 15 domains total
- .chatgpt: OpenAI
- .codex: OpenAI
- .gpt: OpenAI
- .anthropic: Anthropic; 2 domains total
- .claude: Anthropic
- .bsky: Bluesky applied
- .manga: 2 applicants including Kodansha
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.