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A small Caribbean nation is benefiting from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom thanks in part to a fluke that came about when Internet domain codes for countries were awarded decades ago.
The island of Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory located east of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, received the .ai country code for Internet domains in 1995 from the International Telecommunication Union. The Government of Anguilla allows buyers to purchase the .ai registration for their website for terms of up to two years, with possible renewals.
The number of registered .ai domains increased from around 100,000 in 2021 after the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, which started the AI boom. Last year, the number of .ai domain registrations more than doubled from 144,000 in 2022 to 354,000 in 2023.
“With the advent of artificial intelligence as it is, it has made .ai very attractive, and so we have grown in terms of generating our revenue from .ai by leaps and bounds,” Haydn Hughes, Anguilla’s minister of tourism and infrastructure . said FOX Business in an interview.
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Anguilla received the .ai country domain code in 1995 and has seen an increase in registrations due to the AI boom. (DeAgostini/Getty Images)
Hughes said it was “totally coincidental” that Anguilla was given the .ai domain code in 1995 and added, “At that time, we didn’t have computers in Anguilla, we didn’t have any modern technology in Anguilla in 1995, and so we didn’t have email address, we didn’t have internet So artificial intelligence was something that was far away from our cerebral cortex.
“Over time, we saw the potential with this administration that I’m a part of. It’s a very young administration,” Hughes said. “We have ministers who are really tech-savvy, and so we’ve been able to monetize that, and it’s great for the island, and we’ve been able to invest in a significant amount of physical and social infrastructure .”
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Anguilla uses funds from .ai domain registrations on physical and social infrastructure. (Cedrick Isham Calvados/AFP via Getty Images)
The growth in .ai domain registrations has increased the government’s share of registration revenue from over 4% of revenue in 2019 to more than 20% in 2023, when they generated about $32 million in revenue.
The government expects this to stabilize at around 15% of revenue when the registration rush eventually eases, according to the IMF report, which also noted that a similar domain name dynamic has occurred with the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu, which was given . tv domain code.
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Tourism accounts for about 37% of Anguilla’s economy. (Cedrick Isham Calvados/AFP/Getty Images)
Hughes said the attention the .ai domain has brought to Anguilla has helped the island raise its profile in the tourism industry, which accounts for about 37% of its gross domestic product.
“One of the things that’s really great about it is that people who have never heard of Anguilla now know about Anguilla. And especially when people come to Anguilla to see what this rave is all about, they they are very surprised when they see all of the offers we have in terms of hospitality, restaurants, hotels, our villas”, added Hughes.
.ai domain registrations accounted for more than 20% of Anguilla’s government revenue last year amid the AI boom. (Cedrick Isham Calvados/AFP via Getty Images)
He also noted that the revenue stream helps Anguilla maintain its low tax regime, which contains no personal income tax, no capital gains tax and no corporate tax.
Hughes said among the investments Anguilla has used the proceeds to fund includes a program called Senior Shield, which provides comprehensive health care for residents over the age of 70.
Anguilla has used money from .ai domain registrations to invest in an airport expansion. (The Hedelin Group F/Andia/Universal Images via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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The government is also digitizing the public school system to ensure students have laptops and providing digital scholarships, and is building a new terminal at the airport as part of an expansion, he added.
“It’s an island of 15,000 people, so you know that goes a long way,” Hughes said.
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