One (strange) stat which shows the AI boom is still heating up

According to Wikipedia, Anguilla is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles.

You’d be forgiven for not knowing that it existed.

According to the CIA World Factbook, Anguilla, which is a self-governing territory of the United Kingdom, has a total area of 91 square kilometres. This makes it the 225^th largest in the world (out of 250) and about half the size of Washington D.C.

One interesting stat according to the data provided by the spooks, while Anguilla’s gross domestic product (GDP) of around US$362.5 million makes it the 213^th largest economy out of 221, its GDP per capita of US$31,000 ranks it 77^th out of 219.

You’ll never guess what quirky thing has been boosting its economy recently.

Hype.ai

Global share markets have not been the only thing that has been booming due to artificial intelligence.

In 1995, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, allocated Anguilla the suffix, or country code top-level domain (ccTLD), of “.ai” for its internet addresses. No one at the time would have known what this random decision would mean more than twenty years later.

According to numbers provided by the Anguillan government in their 2025 draft budget paper, more than 25% of the territory’s total revenue is expected to be generated through domain name registration sales. A number that is expected to increase to almost 27% by 2027.

In the 2025 budget address, the honourable premier, Ellis L. Webster, highlighted domain name registration as not only a “transformative asset”, but as a key plank in the region’s economic strategy.

“Leveraging digital opportunities, such as domain name registration, and strengthening tax administration are key strategies for ensuring the sustainability of the revenue base.”

One thing is for certain, Anguilla is betting on the AI trend continuing.

.ai still booming

How much is a “.ai” domain name really worth?

Earlier this year, Dharmesh Shah, cofounder of HubSpot, paid US$700,000 for the you.ai domain name. Other key sales include sound.ai and npc.ai for US$250,000 each and even girlfriend.ai for US$170,000.

After steadily rising since 2018, domain name registrations in Anguilla took off around 2023. Today, the number of registered domains in Anguilla is estimated to be around 911,305 – almost 47x Anguilla’s total population.

This is quite significant growth considering that before 2018, it is estimated that there were only four domain names registered in Anguilla.

Burning money?

The fact that Anguillan domain names are still rocketing higher could be yet another sign that the artificial intelligence boom (some might say bubble) still has room to grow – or is that to inflate?

It looks like AI-focused companies are not planning on hitting the brakes on investment into it. Case in point, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

“If we end up misspending a couple of hundred billion dollars, I think that that is going to be very unfortunate, obviously. But what I’d say is I think the risk is higher on the other side”.

Given that companies are considering the potential waste of hundreds of billions of dollars rather than risk falling behind, US$700,000 for an Anguillan domain name might be a bargain in this climate.

That is, until the bears are right and the bubble pops.