Anguilla Says .ai Sales Rose After the SI Rebrand: What That Means for .si Buyers

What Anguilla said this week

Anguilla is the Caribbean island that runs the .ai extension. On Monday its government held a press conference to calm worries about Trump's push to rename artificial intelligence as "super intelligence". Its technology minister, José Vanterpool, said the island doesn't foresee a dent in long-term demand for .ai names, according to Politico Europe.

For domain buyers, this was his most useful line: "In fact, sales in September have been up from sales in August, since the announcement was made." So .ai didn't fall when SI arrived. It grew.

He also said it's "highly unlikely" that businesses already using .ai "will switch and affect their brand simply based on the statements that were made", and that some of the growth is "likely due to the speculation market."

The numbers on both sides

• .si registrations hit 44,000 in September, up from 2,000 in August, with 11,000 on 30 September alone. Politico cites the BBC for these figures.
• Anguilla's domain registration income reached 244 million East Caribbean dollars ($90 million USD) in the year to August. The premier, Cora Richardson-Hodge, called that "91% of the anticipated revenue for the year."
• In her November 2025 budget address, .ai was projected "to contribute nearly 40% of total non-tax revenue".
• Heading into 2027, Anguilla expects revenues to double after expanding .ai to 32 internationalized domain names, including some in languages that don't use the Roman alphabet.

So both extensions grew in the same month. That matters more than it first looks.

Why this changes how I read the .si rush

A lot of early .si buying rested on a simple story: if the White House stops saying AI, companies will move from .ai to .si. Anguilla's data doesn't back that story up, at least not yet. The rename came in stages: a UN speech on 22 September, an executive order on 29 September and a Truth Social post on 8 October calling anyone who says "Artificial Intelligence" "THE ENEMY!" Even after all that, .ai sales went up.

I think that's honest news for .si buyers, and it isn't all bad. It means .si isn't replacing .ai. It's being added alongside it. Most of the people buying .si names are new buyers, and Vanterpool's point about speculation applies to plenty of them. I'd agree with him there. Most .si names registered in September are bets, and the .si aftermarket is small. A name you register today may never find a buyer.

The industry is split too. Gizmodo's tally found Elon Musk, Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos and Satya Nadella using the Super Intelligence term. Sam Altman hasn't used it publicly, though, and he posted "AI" on X as recently as 6 October. Amazon's Andy Jassy also posted "AI" the day after the White House meeting.

The SI term keeps spreading in Washington

Meanwhile the White House keeps using the new term. Uniladtech reports that First Lady Melania Trump has launched the 2027 Presidential Super Intelligence Challenge. It's open to students from kindergarten to grade 12, and to educators and schools across the US. The announcement says it'll give students "the opportunity to use SI to dream, build, and develop solutions to real-world challenges". The first challenge reportedly engaged more than 20,000 students from all 50 states and US schools around the world.

That's the pattern so far. The term SI is spreading through government and schools, but businesses that already own .ai names aren't moving. For a .si buyer, the realistic market is the next wave of founders, schools and agencies who want a short, plain name and can't get or afford the .com or .ai.

Where a .si still makes sense, with real prices

Since .ai isn't collapsing, .ai prices aren't collapsing either. That's where a .si can still be the sensible buy. Here are a few names from my own inventory that show the gap:

• aimarket.si ($4,500): the .com is listed at $594,888 and the .ai at $47,995. Searched 12,100 times a month.
• aiprompts.si ($5,500): the .ai is listed at $44,500 and the .com has been held since 2018. Over 200,000 searches a month worldwide.
• aivideoeditor.si ($5,000): the .com asks $149,995 and the .ai is for sale too. 201,000 searches a month worldwide.
• greatmind.si ($2,000): the .com is listed at $500,000 and the .ai's price is on request. 33,100 searches a month.
• enrollments.si ($2,500): 246,000 searches a month, and schools run enrollments every year. But be honest with yourself here. The .ai is listed at $6,800, which isn't a big premium. If you're building a serious enrolment product, that .ai may well be the better buy.

Should you buy a .si name because of this?

Not because of this news alone. Anguilla's figures show .ai is healthy, and .si owners shouldn't expect .ai companies to come knocking. If your plan was to flip a .si to a business leaving .ai, I'd drop it. If you're a founder who wants a plain name you can get now, a .si can work, but only if it passes three questions:

1. Are the .com and .ai taken or expensive? If the .com is available at a fair price, buy the .com. It's still the safer asset.
2. Is it a generic name and not a brand? Plain words like "market" or "prompts" are fine. A copy of another company's name isn't, and it could land you in a dispute.
3. Do people search for it? Check real monthly search numbers. A name nobody types won't hold much resale value when the aftermarket is this small.

If a name clears all three, a .si can be a cheap way in. If it fails any one of them, keep your money. You can see the full list at aidomains.si.

Names from this store that pass the test

Questions

Sources

1. Politico Europe, 2026-10-14
2. uniladtech, 2026-10-14
3. Gizmodo, 2026-10-12

This post was researched and drafted with AI help from the sources above, then checked by me before publishing. Facts are as reported on the dates shown.