The Caribbean island of Anguilla has found its new AI cash cow. When the internet first started out, countries and territories claimed their unique domain extensions to tag onto websites — .us, .uk, and for Anguilla, .ai. With the AI boom that came decades later, companies and entrepreneurs are paying the British Overseas Territory top dollar to register their websites with its domain, the BBC reported. The same thing happened for the Pacific island of Tuvalu and its domain .tv more than two decades ago.
Last year, Anguilla generated $39 million selling its domain, almost a quarter of the island’s total revenue. With only 16,000 people, it expects to make $48.8 million this year and $51 million in 2026 from the service.
There are nearly 880,000 registered domains ending in .ai, a number that almost doubled in a year, according to a domain registration tracker. The business may allow Anguilla to diversify its economy, which is largely reliant on tourism dollars at risk each hurricane season.