Trump's AI rebrand causes 'unprecedented' demand for Slovenian website names

ByLaura Cress Technology reporter.

Key points

• For example, in 1997 Rick Schwartz, known as "The Domain King", purchased the domain name men.com for $15, 000 (£11, 300).
• President Trump pressed the technology to be renamed during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 11 September.
• She remarked on 30 September alone, 11, 000 new registrations were recorded.
• On Tuesday, President Trump hosted a session of top technology bosses for what he called "an extraordinary gathering" of the residents "building America's Golden Age".
• Images of the signatures for the order were mocked online, external nevertheless – when it was discovered "United States" had been spelt incorrectly underneath President Trump's signature.

President Donald Trump's push to rename AI may be behind an "unprecedented" rise in registrations for domain names in Slovenia, according to its official national registry.

In practice, the president wants AI to be called super intelligence – or SI – the same initials applied by Slovenian websites.

Register.si spokesperson Klara Herman remarked 44, 000 web addresses with the.si suffix had been registered in September, compared to less than 2, 000 in August – an rise of more than 2, 100%.

She remarked the scale of activity in late September was "unprecedented" compared to the previous 12 months.

"The use of the word artificial makes it sound fake, " he remarked.

"It's not fake, it's actually amazing. But we have to be careful. Welcome to the new world of super intelligence."

Internet domains are the unique human-readable addresses individuals type into their web browsers to access websites – like bbc.co.uk.

Although she was "cautious" concerning attributing the entire growth to only President Trump's comments, herman remarked registrations for.si web addresses in September stood out "very clearly" against the other months in the year.

One feasible explanation for the purchases is cyber-squatting – where residents speculatively register specific domain names in case they growth in value afterwards on and can be sold for a profit.

For example, in 1997 Rick Schwartz, known as "The Domain King", purchased the domain name men.com for $15, 000 (£11, 300). He sold it for $1.32 million seven years afterwards.

He signed an executive order instructing US administration departments and agencies to start using the terms "SI" and "Super Intelligence" and they should no longer acknowledge the apply of the term AI.

SI will take the place of AI in "official correspondence", websites, reports and other forms of communication, the order remarked.

Taken together, the developments around trump' s AI rebrand causes ' unprecedented' demand for Slovenian website names point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.