You’ve all seen the news already. President Trump signed an executive order directing the executive branch of the US government to use the terms “Super Intelligence” and “SI” instead of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI.” This, in turn, has led to quite a bit of interest in the .SI domain name.
In the startup and tech space, there has been a great deal of talk about also changing the terminology to match. Some of those people have even talked about .SI domain names. In fact, even the Polymarket X account commented about a .SI domain name over the weekend:
JUST IN: AI.si domain listed for sale for $699,995 as Silicon Valley increasingly shifts from “AI” to “SI” — superintelligence.
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) October 4, 2026
Debating domain names and domain name extension can be a distraction for a startup. It pulls key people away from the primary objectives of building a better product, finding product-market fit, and raising the capital needed to grow. Having to decide whether to build on a .AI domain name, and now potentially whether to pivot to a .SI domain name, only adds another layer of uncertainty and distraction.
Making this a bit more complicated is that many domain registrars, like GoDaddy and Namecheap, do not yet sell .SI domain names for registration. Others, like Dynadot, have reported issues connecting with the .SI registry. On the aftermarket, I’ve noticed sale reports, but it’s unclear if the majority of that is end user or domain investor-driven. From what I can see, investors have bought many and priced them very high. Good for them for trying to capitalize on the potential shift. I would, too. However, sky high asking prices are going to cause a greater pause on end user adoption.
I expect there will be plenty of debates inside startups and tech companies about whether .AI or .SI makes more sense for domain names. Ironically, I think some of that uncertainty will lead back to .com domain names. A .com domain name isn’t dependent on whether the industry calls the technology Artificial Intelligence, Super Intelligence, or something else down the road. For a company thinking long term, that can make .com feel like the safer and more future-proof option. This is especially the case with .AI and .SI domain name prices at eye-watering levels.
Yes, I registered some .SI domain names. I am late to this, but I got a few one word names so I can participate at some level. I have no idea how this will all turn out though.
The more interesting question isn’t whether .AI or .SI is the better extension for a business. It’s whether changing terminology will make businesses place even greater value on .com, which is an extension that has stood the test of time.
When I saw your headline the first thing I thought of was back to the good old reliable DOT COM space.
And that is exactly what you state:
“I think some of that uncertainty will lead back to .com domain names”
And what is the next .SI or .AI ?
.CI (Compute Inteligence)
.QI (Quantum Inteligence)
Regardless, The value of .SI just took a bath no matter who gets elected in 2028. JUst brings to ight how stupid al the hype is around NON DOT COMs
Bri
disappointing to see Rick Schwartz register .SI domain names. he has lost all credibility and respect from me.
I believe Rick did it for brand protection, but why is someone else’s domain name registration/acquisition choices a disappointment to you?
Very weird take, IMO.
.com “everything else is pigeon s–t.”
He bought Flowers.mobi for $200k: https://www.ricksblog.com/2007/11/the-real-story/
He and Berkens bought .ME and .XXX domain names: https://www.ricksblog.com/2011/11/meetme-through-my-eyes/
He also bought and uses Betty.ai.
Why are you all of a sudden disappointed because he bought a .SI domain name?
Weird.
Maybe he’s beginning to like pigeon sh*t 🙂
If Rick is in anything he clearly sees a much better reward vs. risk.
No doubt he has targeted businesses / entities that operate using the .AI vs. some other NON DOT COM.
Ricks actions do remind me of his purchase of Deplorables.com 7-8 years ago.
He has a great sense of humor as well – cracks me up.
I can see buying .si for brand protection.
and for domain investors to reg .si domains to flip. why not?
I regged about 150 one word .ai domains in 2016, and maybe 50 were purchased by end-users between 2017-2023.
and maybe 40-50 purchased by very affluent domain investors, and some well-known on this blog.
I’ve also worked in AI since 2016, and the reason I didn’t reg any .SI domains is because ASI or SI is well-known in the AI and Tech community to signify artificial super intelligence, which I predict will be achieved in about a decade.
AGI (artificial general intelligence) is here. And in China and Israel. As in achieved by companies in these 3 countries. Possibly also one in Canada. So we could see some companies/startups branding with AGI soon. As there’s not an AGI extension, maybe the branding will be AGIkeyword.com or KeywordAGI.com
I know Musk has rebranded SpaceXai to SpaceXsi, but I suspect this is more of a maneuver to appease Trump and to get more gov contacts and subsidies. Will other companies do the same? Possible, yes
in Chinese
AI means “to love”
SI means “to die”
爱
死
One “theory” I’ve seen which may hold water:
1. Total bulls**t move designed to challenge state regulation of “AI” by being able to claim all their laws and rules only apply to “AI,” but not to “SI.”
2. They know they almost certainly could never win that, so the real goal is just to delay and cause trouble and what not.
And this. This was an AI search. Not an SI search:
>> “does anyone really care about the term “super intelligence” now” <<
"No, the general public and tech industry do not care about or use President Donald Trump's recent push to rebrand artificial intelligence (AI) as "super intelligence" (SI). [1, 2, 3]
## The Rebrand and Public Reaction
* The Announcement: In September 2026, [President Trump announced at the UN General Assembly]([url redacted]) that the U.S. government would officially replace "AI" with "SI" in federal documents and communications, claiming "artificial" makes the technology sound fake. [2, 4, 5]
* Public Disinterest: A YouGov poll found that only 9% of people favor the term "super intelligence," while 53% prefer sticking with "artificial intelligence". [3]
* Industry Pushback: Tech experts and corporate leaders have largely ignored the rebrand. They note that "superintelligence" is already an established scientific term reserved for a hypothetical future machine that surpasses all human capabilities—meaning today's tools (like basic chatbots) are far too limited to qualify. Critics compare the executive order to other administrative renaming efforts, viewing it as a confusing political gesture rather than a change that will stick in everyday language. [1, 2, 3, 5, 6] "
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I only went to reg 1 for essentially brand protection, but someone already beat me to it recently. As far as I'm concerned the .si bandwagon is near total BS, however, and it would be very unwise to be played by it. We've all been played beyond what most people could even imagine, and this is just more bulls**t.
P.S. In case anyone is not aware, which unfortunately is highly likely in our industry, there is now a vast power struggle underway for control of AI, the motives for which are of course completely evil as usual and have nothing to do with representing or benefiting humanity and the world but instead the total opposite. And that is what this new “SI” “super intelligence” nonsense is all about.
All I know is the following domains have already been reserved:
ArtificialNews.com
ArtificialNews.si
ArtificialNews.ai
But i see where HyperscalerDigitalFlywheelAIAgent.com can still be hand registered !!!!!
…could be big…….