So the first real news in domaining of 2024 was that Rick Schwartz started investing in .ai domain names. I asked Rick if he would answer a few questions and he graciously agreed. One point Rick made was this, “I am NOT endorsing .Ai. I am sharing the fact that I am dabbling.”

I think it’s an interesting read and hope you enjoy the interview.

Q1) What made you decide to invest in .ai domain names?

Let me start by saying that my knowledge of Ai in general is limited. I had the same issue when I started with Dotcom. I was late to the game then, I am late to the game now. And for 100% clarity, I am NOT endorsing .ai. I am simply exploring the possibilities and like many of you, trying to guess/predict the future,

Shiny objects don’t attract me until I see critical mass start to gel. I ignore all those hawkers jumping up and down promising to be the next big thing.

I am all about critical mass. That is what gets my attention. When I see something unknown get on the front page daily. Is discussed in the news daily. Is talked about and explored daily by world leaders, and THAT gets my attention. Not some domain pumper with Blue Sky promises that don’t materialize.

Can anyone say that about most other things or even all the new extensions? Critical mass is my guiding light.

Last year XYZ was on the lips of many domainers. This year, .XYZ is on the lips of NOBODY. Domainers or end-users.

Comparing .ai to .xyz illuminates the stark difference that I have observed. .Ai has strong and wide end-user demand not a manufactured demand. One is organically homegrown by the public and the other is grown in a lab by domnainers. Lol 

I invest in Dotcom domains because it’s the most widely advertised item in the history of the world. It’s synonymous with the internet. It’s the foundation of everything online. I believe 999 of the Fortune 1000 have their World Headquarters based on a Dotcom domain. 

Dotcom gets repeated daily billions maybe even trillions of times. Every single day. It’s embedded into our brains. 

So I watched 1300 other extensions come out and after 11 YEARS, nobody knows about, it is under the radar and is invisible. Instead of being mentioned trillions of times a day, it’s only mentioned by domainers for the most part. That does not count! Inside baseball with no audience!

I can hardly see a news report, a political event, or a magazine article without the mention of artificial intelligence, Ai. It’s getting widely known. It’s hitting critical mass overnight. It is mentioned billions of times a day now. It is on the lips of people. That got my attention. I don’t chase shiny objects. I chase objects that hit critical mass, and there is a legitimate demand for not a ginned-up demand like we have seen layout over and over again. Wise up. 

And I don’t question the legitimacy of the sales that are being made. They make sense and are more natural and widespread. You just have to be observant and honest about it.

So I took a calculated risk and decided to put a few dollars in that sector. I will probably put some more. But I’m still a Dotcom guy. However, I can see the adaptation of .Ai to some degree. I also buy domains that end in ai.com because I don’t know how it’s going to shake out.

Q2) .Ai has some interesting terms and conditions. What are your thoughts on this part in specific.

If owner of the site has done any of the above with previous domains (even non .ai domains) we can disable a current domain, (readers can see what all these potential violations are at the following url http://whois.ai/faq.html)

Well, these rules and TOS can definitely be a major pitfall. It can’t be ignored. It’s nice to prevent fraud. It’s another thing to abuse. Sever the power of a business on a whim and put someone out of business. So it’s not without risk. You have to go with your eyes wide open and never get close to the line. There’s no reason to challenge most things in life. So stay away from the foul lines. We will have to observe how the registry handles issues as they come up.

Q3) Do you think .ai will only shine for one word names or do you think that two word .ai domain names can prove to be successful investments?

 I don’t really want to go there. I’m not a proponent. I am an investor. I just share what I am doing in real-time and figure that may have value. But I will say this: Ai domains have different attributes than a Dotcom. Dotcom is very universal. It goes with everything. It’s kind of like a white shirt. You can wear a white shirt with anything you can’t necessarily wear an orange shirt with anything. So Ai domains are a much narrower category of domains that match Ai uses. It’s not universal. At least as far as investing. I had to kind of get my sea legs a little bit when looking for Ai domains. Some of them in the dotcom would’ve been worth unimaginable money, but when I looked at it as a .ai extension, it wasn’t appealing to me. It did not make sense.

I am far from an Ai expert. Some guys have been in it for years. I am dabbling in something that interests me. Time tells all. I can afford the risk. I can afford to expand. I passed up investing in 1300 new GTLDs. They made no sense to me and still don’t. In 10 years not a single one has hit critical mass or even known by the public at large. There simply is very limited demand and most of that demand is misguided since they are FORCED to upgrade to Dotcom once they discover the pitfalls and the traffic loss.

Q4) What cautions would you advise someone new to domaining should take with regards to .ai domain names?

First, I would say, that Dotcom is a much safer bet. Number two, understand the sector and what would be important to end users and why. Number three has an idea for that domain name. If you don’t have an idea when you’re buying the domain name for what it could be used for successfully then don’t buy it. If it does not sound like it could be a World Headquarters, don’t buy it. It’s a Dotcom world so stick with the ONLY Blue Chip extension. Dotcom is the largest franchise in the history of the world. So if you are starting, don’t try and reinvent the wheel. 

Q5) Can you share your favorite .ai purchase?

Do you mean other than DomainKing.Ai? Lol.

Well, let me put it this way. One of the big sectors of Ai is virtual girlfriends. And so I have four female first names ending in Ai. Like Betty.Ai and Selina.Ai for example.

I also got Trick.Ai and Hoax.Ai because so much of the concern about Ai is how easy it is to trick people. So between that and the future of hoaxes, that could be a very busy entity just tracking all the baloney and fakery that’s out there.

I got a couple of gambling domain names and I got names in many price categories. Some of the names were attractive because the prices were very attractive. People seem to like TheBet.Ai and that one I paid the least for, $140.

The future tells all. I planted some seeds. I have said many times before, that my focus is on acquisitions, not sales. If I make the right acquisitions, the sales are the residue of those good decisions and acquisitions. I never focus on sales but I have a pretty good history of 7-figure sales. 

Ai went from zero to Critical mass in a very short time. MONTHS!!  It will only gain in recognition. Compare that to ANY of the new GTLD’s. Do you hear about any of their sectors on the nightly news?? NEVER! Ai has wide and long legs. It will be with us for a very long time. Will that translate into .ai being an alternative? I doubt it. But right now it has traction among END-USERS!! Something GTLD’s never achieved in over a decade!

Most importantly, there is an exploitation component in Ai that everyone is racing to tap into and take advantage of. It is a gateway for personal gain. That is the attraction and the difference. Ai is a defining future category. The rest are simply a gaggle of meaningless extensions. .Ai is focused 100%. The ONLY alternative is a Dotcom.

I also did a Poll on Twitter to see how domain investors think things will shake out.

You can have 3 variations to tap into Ai.

KeywordAi .com (My personal preference) 40.4%

Or

AiKeyword .com (Don’t like as much) 21.3%

Or

Keyword.Ai (Taking a risk but do not endorse) 38,3%

Those are the basic veins one might tap into unless they go for an unrelated but brandable name. .ai certainly held its own.

As a matter of fact, Trick.ai cost me about $25k, I bought an insurance policy from Huge Domains. For $3295 I went out and grabbed TrickAi .com to cover the bases. I tried to do that with Betty.ai but BettyAi .com was listed for $50k, so that was not attractive as an investor.

I have been doing a real-life test for over a dozen years. If you want the REAL answers, walk down the street and without coaxing, ask folks the internet extensions they realize or recognize or know. You will be hard-pressed to find anyone that knows more than about 5. Try it yourself! Don’t be scared of the result. It will help open your eyes.

Ai, Artificial Intelligence has hit critical mass in MONTHS! EVERYONE is dialed in to some degree and recognition is just starting. 

Ai has the ability to be the booster rocket of the internet. The reason it is of interest now and not years ago is I wait for things to start unfolding before I buy into it. Before I chase it. 

I am NOT endorsing .ai or any domains I buy to domain investors. I ALWAYS look at it through the eyes of the end user. They are my focus. My only focus. My job is predicting what THEY will do NOT what domainers might or might not chase.

Even those that start with a .ai extension will likely upgrade in time to a dotcom unless .ai can hurdle the confusion issue. That could happen because of critical mass. But that would also entail .ai to be widely advertised. 

Again, for the record and the haters that can’t help themselves, I am NOT endorsing .Ai. I am sharing the fact that I am dabbling. These same haters like to throw the $200k buy of Flowers.mobi 15 years ago or more in my face. But let me take a moment to expose these haters. None of them could afford a $200k loss and they fail to mention my $100 million in domain earnings along the way like that side of the equation does not count! One loss in 28+ years and THAT is their focus? They are fools with no life, and I live rent-free in their heads. They never miss an opportunity. 

But as haters most are anonymous and without any success to point to. Their job is to hate. That’s all they got. My job is to share. I am NOT trying to sell anything to domainers. I have NEVER sold a domain to a domain investor. I ONLY focus on end-users! So there is no financial motive for me.

If they were smart, they would have learned from my loss and applied it to 1300 other extensions that domainers lost their shirts on listening to those that had monetary skin in the game. They got hoodwinked! End-users got hoodwinked into buying substandard and unrecognizable extensions and then had to deal with the pitfalls, expenses, loss of traffic, and other fallout. Eventually FORCED to move to a Dotcom with a VERY COSTLY rebranding upgrade! That is if they figure it out before they go belly-up!

As I mentioned above KeywordAi .com is my overall choice and probably the best choice for those that want “ai” in their name. 

My dabbling in .ai represents 1/2 of 1% of my 2023 earnings. To put that in perspective, if you were making $100k/year it would be a $640 investment. NOT a big deal at all. The cost of a nice meal and a bottle of wine! Then again you can hand register a Dotcom domain today for LESS than the cost of a Happy meal at McDonalds and probably be better off!