The tiny Caribbean nation is cashing in on the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, thanks in part to a fortuitous moment when each country’s internet domain code was assigned decades ago.
The island of Anguilla, a British overseas territory located east of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, received the .ai internet domain country code from the International Telecommunications Union in 1995. The Anguilla government allows buyers to purchase .ai registrations for their websites for up to two years, with subsequent renewals available.
After the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022 and the start of the AI boom, the number of .ai registered domains has skyrocketed from about 100,000 in 2021. Last year, the number of .ai domain registrations more than doubled, from 144,000 in 2022 to 354,000 in 2023.
“The advent of artificial intelligence has made .ai very attractive and we’ve seen exponential growth in terms of revenue generation from .ai,” Anguilla’s Minister of Tourism and Infrastructure Hayden Hughes said in an interview with FOX Business.
Hughes said it was “total coincidence” that Anguilla got the .ai domain code in 1995, adding: “There were no computers in Anguilla at the time, there was no modern technology in Anguilla in 1995, there were no email addresses, there was no internet, so artificial intelligence was very far removed from our cerebral cortex.”
“As time went on, I realised the potential of this administration that I’m in, even though it’s still very young,” Hughes said. “Our ministers are very tech-savvy and have been able to monetise this, which has been great for the island, and invest in a significant amount of physical and social infrastructure.”
The surge in .ai domain registrations has increased the government’s share of revenue from registrations from just over 4% of revenue in 2019 to over 20% in 2023, generating approximately $32 million in revenue.
The government expects domain name revenues to stabilize at about 15 percent once the registration rush eventually subsides, according to the IMF report, which also noted that similar domain name trends have been seen in Tuvalu, a South Pacific nation that was given the .tv domain code.
Hughes said the attention the .ai domain has brought to Anguilla has helped boost its profile in the tourism industry, which accounts for about 37 percent of the island’s gross domestic product.
“One of the really great things is that people who have never heard of Anguilla are now aware of Anguilla, especially those who have come to Anguilla to check out this .ai excitement, and they are so amazed by our hospitality, our restaurants, our hotels, our villas, all the services we have to offer,” Hughes added.
He also noted that the influx of revenue will maintain Anguilla’s low tax regime, which has no personal income tax, capital gains tax or corporate tax.
Hughes said investments Anguilla has funded with .ai revenue include a program called “Senior Shield” that provides comprehensive health care to residents aged 70 and over.
The government is also digitising public school systems to give students access to laptops and offering digital scholarships, as well as building a new terminal at the airport as part of an expansion, he added.
“This is an island of 15,000 people so it’s clear this will have a big impact,” Hughes said.
