The domain AI.com now redirects to Chinese AI maker DeepSeek’s chatbot – ’chat.deepseek.com’
According to the South China Morning Post, DeepSeek appears “to have received approval” from the owner of AI.com, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and has registered the domain in the region.
According to Whois, a service that lets one check the ownership of a domain, AI.com was first registered in May 1993.
However, the domain plays musical chairs of sorts with big tech companies and their AI models.
Previously, in 2023, the domain redirected users to ChatGPT, and it was reported that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman bid for the domain. Soon after, the domain started redirecting users to Elon Musk’s xAI.
Later, in February 2024, it was observed that the domain was redirecting to a video posted by American YouTuber Marques Brownlee on his channel. It redirected users to one of his videos titled ‘AI-generated videos just changed forever’. Even then, it wasn’t clear who the owner of the domain was, and Brownlee clarified that he did not own the domain.
In March, Android Police reported that the domain was redirecting to Google’s Gemini chatbot.
However, in November last year, OpenAI bought the domain ‘chat.com’, and Altman notified users of the update in a post on X.
Several reports in 2023 revealed that HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah purchased ‘chat.com’ for $15.5 million, making it one of the most expensive domain sales on record. In March, he revealed that he sold the domain to an undisclosed buyer. Later, he confirmed on X that OpenAI was the purchaser, hinting that the transaction might have involved OpenAI shares. OpenAI has not disclosed the amount they paid for this acquisition, but people predict it’s likely more than $15 million.
Moreover, TechCrunch reported that a software engineer named Ananay Arora bought the domain name ‘OGOpenAI.com’ and redirected it to DeepSeek.
However, the domain does not redirect to DeepSeek’s chatbot as of today, but to a black screen with the message ‘Are you accelerating anon (anonymous)?’.
