ICANN Receives 1,615 New Domain Applications, With AI-Themed Names in Demand
ICANN is accepting applications for new top-level domains for the first time in years. So far 1,615 applications have been filed, and many of them are tied to artificial intelligence.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is again accepting applications for new top-level domains after a gap of several years. These are the endings of web addresses, such as .com, .org or .pizza. ICANN has announced that it has received 1,615 applications from 481 applicants so far.
AI dominates
The applications show a strong focus on artificial intelligence. Ten companies, including Meta and OpenAI, want .agent. Seven, OpenAI among them, applied for .agi, and six applied for .asi, again including OpenAI. Four companies want .intelligence, while two, including Meta, are interested in the lengthy .superintelligence. In total, OpenAI applied for 15 domains and Meta for 21.
Generic and branded domains
The applications fall into two broad types. The first are generic domains that many people or companies could use; there are hundreds in this batch, such as .geek, .haha, .anime and .jackpot, as well as .itiswhatitis.
The second type are branded domains that give a company its own suffix. This round includes 345 of them, among them .applebees, .bankofamerica, .zillow and .zoom. Meta applied for .facebook, .instagram, .messenger, .meta, .frommeta and .threads. Bluesky applied for .bsky, apparently to use in usernames. OpenAI applied for .chatgpt, .codex, .openai and .gpt, among others, while Anthropic wants .anthropic and .claude.
What comes next
Alternative domains have had a difficult few years. Some, such as .ai and .app, have become fairly popular, but most people never got used to addresses ending in .restaurant or .babysitting, and .com has become more important than ever. Until now, only Google and a few others have secured their own domains.
This is only one step in creating a new top-level domain, and nothing will be made official before sometime next year.
