Hilco Digital’s Andrew Miller on .AI Domain Names

Andrew Miller, Managing Director of Hilco Digital Assets, is someone I chat with on a regular basis. In addition to general discussions about domain names and the industry at-large, I will occasionally connect with Andrew to do a sanity check when acquiring a valuable domain name or when I am evaluating a substantial offer. Andrew has been involved in the domain investment space for many years, and I take his insights seriously.

Yesterday, Andrew shared his 100th “Random Sunday Thoughts” post on LinkedIn. In his first point, he discussed .AI domain names as investments. As you know, .AI domain names have become the biggest topic of discussion amongst domain investors. It appears that many companies in the AI space have been using .AI domain names, and each week we see sales reports with .AI domain names amongst the leading sales.

I think Andrew offered some good food for thought. With his permission, I am sharing his commentary below:

“There has been a lot of buzz on .AI domain names recently and for the past 3 months, I have emails from many asking my opinion on .ai domains. In full disclosure, I have been one of the most outspoken experts that devalue non .com TLD’s going back 25 years. At least I am consistent:).

I have friends making good money on .ai right now, and I have end user clients who have made large, longer term investments in a handful. My thoughts are in line with what they have always been; that any TLD that is not .com (or .org) surfaces due to something happening in the broader environment around it. I have seen it with so many and often sarcastically refer to them as the “TLD du jour”.

Historically, I have been much more right than wrong. There is no doubt that AI will have a transformative impact on business and life, one maybe only rivaled by the Internet itself and the Iphone. That undoubtedly will lead to a bubble in AI investments, as everyone rushes to get in and VC’s follow others, as they have the most FOMO of all.

There WILL be .AI success stories, whether they are from start ups or established companies. WIth that said, one benefit of having been involved with domains and the Internet since the 1990’s is I have seen it all. If you want to invest in AI domains, do so, hey I may too selectively, but do not lose sight of the likelihood that they are not necessarily tied to the importance of AI as a platform and they too, like 100 percent of those TLDs before them, will be grossly devalued in time and likely sooner than later.

In the words of Bob Dylan, “don’t say I didn’t warn you when your train gets lost.”.