The integration of artificial intelligence into everyday life has sparked doubts and unsettling questions for many about the future of humanity. However, in Anguilla, a small Caribbean island east of Puerto Rico, the A.I. boom has brought great wealth to the country.
Anguilla, a British territory, earns a fee from every registration for internet addresses ending in “.ai,” which is the domain name assigned to the island. With companies seeking internet addresses that convey their involvement in the A.I. boom – such as Elon Musk’s X.ai website for his artificial intelligence company – Anguilla has seen a significant increase in requests for domain names.
For each domain registration, Anguilla’s government receives a fee ranging from $140 to thousands of dollars from website names sold at auctions, according to government data. Last year, Anguilla’s government earned approximately $32 million from these fees. This amount accounted for more than 10 percent of the territory’s GDP, which has a population of nearly 16,000 people and covers 35 square miles.
“Some people refer to it as a windfall,” said Anguilla’s premier, Ellis Webster. “We see it as a blessing from above.”
Mr. Webster mentioned that the government used the money to offer free healthcare to citizens aged 70 and above. They also allocated millions of dollars to complete the construction of a school and vocational training center. Furthermore, the government invested funds in improving the airport, doubling the budget for sports activities, events, and facilities, and increasing the budget for citizens seeking medical treatment abroad.
The island, heavily reliant on tourism, suffered from pandemic-related travel restrictions and a devastating hurricane in 2017. The income from .ai domains provided the much-needed boost to the country.
Anguilla’s control of .ai dates back to the early days of the internet. The government did not exploit the domain until it started generating millions in revenue. Officials are unsure about the longevity of this boon, but they anticipate similar income levels in 2024 from domain names.
It is not the first time a windfall has made a significant impact on a grateful domain owner. Tuvalu, a group of islands northwest of Australia, sold the rights to its “.tv” suffix to a Canadian entrepreneur for $50 million, using the funds for electrifying outer islands, scholarships, and the process of joining the United Nations.
Conversely, the South Pacific island of Niue granted an American businessman the rights to its “.nu” suffix in the 1990s in exchange for internet connectivity. Later, the island claimed to have been deceived out of profits from the sale of the domain name to Scandinavian buyers attracted by the suffix “nu,” meaning “now” in Swedish, Danish, and Dutch.
Recognizing the significance of this unexpected windfall, Anguilla made sure not to let this opportunity pass by.
“We consider ourselves fortunate,” Mr. Webster remarked.
Brian Hoerst contributed to this report.
