Will .ai be replaced by .si? Is the domain market heading toward a “battle of the suffixes”?

In late September, U.S. officials proposed shifting the terminology from “Artificial Intelligence (AI)” to “Superintelligence (SI).” This triggered a surge in registrations for .si—the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Slovenia—leading to market speculation that the .ai suffix might lose its standing, with entrepreneurs potentially pivoting toward .com instead. However, transaction data from the Atom platform suggests that this debate over terminology has not shaken the foundational demand for .ai.

Data shows that September—the month the SI announcement was made—saw the highest volume of .ai domain purchases on the platform, with October following closely behind. Currently, the number of unique buyers for .ai domains on the platform is roughly four times what it was in early 2025; the number of buyers has grown year-over-year for every quarter, and demand continues to trend upward. The number of buyers serves as a more reliable indicator than total transaction value, as it avoids the distortions caused by isolated, high-value deals and provides a clearer picture of actual market acceptance.

Many have speculated that because the concepts behind .ai and .si overlap, entrepreneurs might opt ​​for the safer, more established .com to mitigate risk. While it is true that .com remains the dominant force in the domain market—accounting for nearly two-thirds of sales on the Atom platform—it is often out of reach for early-stage AI startups. Premium, single-word .com domains frequently command prices that exceed the entire budget of an initial funding round. Consequently, these founders aren’t simply choosing between a .com and a .ai version of the same name; rather, they are opting for the better value proposition of a .ai domain or a creative, compound domain name. For AI startups, .ai functions as a clear brand signal—a deliberate choice, not a fallback option.

The .si domain has indeed seen a market uptick, with some public transactions on the platform reaching six-figure sums; early buyers have primarily been domain investors and entities focused on brand protection. The .si suffix is ​​better suited for companies centered on general-purpose large models or intelligent infrastructure. In contrast, for AI service providers operating in vertical sectors—such as specialized tools for finance, tax, legal, or freight—the core business is not necessarily “superintelligence,” making the .ai identifier a more fitting choice for their specific needs. In the long run, both are likely to develop in parallel, with many enterprises opting to use both—.ai for website deployment and .si for brand protection.

The popularity of a domain extension is never dictated by official designations; rather, it evolves organically from the ground up, shaped by language usage and industry perception. The real risk to .ai—far more significant than any competition from .si—stems from the broader discourse surrounding technology, as well as the inevitable loss of the “AI” label’s luster once the technology becomes ubiquitous.

There are no absolute winners in domain investment, so there is no need to take sides or view these options as mutually exclusive. Ultimately, the value of a premium domain rests on the brand itself. Rather than chasing trends by betting on specific extensions, it is wiser to focus on the genuine needs of end-users and approach one’s domain strategy with a rational perspective.