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Anguilla hits the jackpot
Anguilla has been famed for its tropical climate, white sandy beaches and fabulous coral reefs. The tiny UK territory would never have imagined when it was assigned .ai as its domain suffix back in the 1990’s that it could net them tens of millions of dollars.
Indeed the suffix was previously often overlooked, but with tech giants including Google now having their own .ai addresses to direct traffic to AI-specific pages, it is estimated that Anguilla could profit by as much as $30m in domain registration fees this year alone.
Confirmation of potential coming from the Pacific
They need only look towards the Pacific island of Tuvalu and the success they made from the .tv suffix, to see the vast financial implications that the AI situation could mean for revenue.
Tuvalu’s suffix is associated with online streaming and video content and by recognising the massive financial implications associated with that, they were able to capitalize through effective marketing strategies, to such an extent that it transformed its economy, providing a valuable source of income and contributing significantly to its GDP.
The power of the domain name in this digital age is enormous, so Anguilla is sitting on a virtual goldmine.
Word of the Year
Another indication of the influence AI is having on the world can be seen by the fact that the highly respected Collins Dictionary has actually given AI their title of “Word of the Year” – even though in reality it actually just an abbreviation. The makers of the publication – which is accepted as being more user-friendly and accessible than the Oxford English Dictionary – say that usage of the word has quadrupled in 2023.
Their choice of word of the year usually reflects the public compulsions of that time. Last year it was permacrisis, which is a term for “an extended period of instability or insecurity” and was chosen in reference to the constant upheavals in British politics during 2022.
Fears of wrongful use
There is of course the fear that AI could actually be used with malicious intention. Already many performers, writers and artists have expressed their concerns that it will allow others to exploit and imitate their work for financial gain, with no recompense for themselves.
Controversial figure makes bold prediction
Politically and from a world-security viewpoint, US President Joe Biden has vowed to “harness the power of AI, while keeping all Americans safe”, whilst the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that he wants his country to be a leader in AI safety.
His long-term thought processes may however have been slightly altered when he met with billionaire Elon Musk at a summit last month, to discuss AI. The controversial businessman has already used the technology in his driverless Tesla cars and he predicted that in the not too distant future, AI will make paid work redundant.
Whether that would be something Mr Sunak could put into a future Conservative manifesto is debatable!
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