Elon Musk has been making headlines lately for his purchase of Twitter, but it seems he’s also been busy buying up domain names. In the latest development, it’s been reported that Musk has acquired the domain name ai.com.
The domain name ai.com was previously owned by OpenAI, a non-profit research company that Musk co-founded. OpenAI bought the domain name in February in a bid to make AI synonymous with ChatGPT, its large language model chatbot.
However, it’s not clear if Musk actually bought the domain name from OpenAI or if he simply negotiated a deal with the domain’s owner to redirect it to his new AI company, xAI.
xAI’s mission statement is to “understand reality,” which is possibly to build an alternative to OpenAI’s woke chatbot. Musk had been planning to build a rival since the beginning of the year, and the formation of his AI company is planning to build just that.
It’s also worth noting that the ChatGPT user base has dropped since June. This might be for several reasons, such as the availability of API and general loss of interest in the chatbot. This might have also hinted Altman to believe that buying the domain ai.com has not helped the company retain any traffic on the platform.
On the other hand, OpenAI has been trying to file for a trademark on the word “GPT” since March. Since then, there has been no development in that case, so the company has now filed for a trademark on “GPT-5,” hinting that a new LLM-based model or product is possibly in the making.
Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that Musk is serious about his AI ambitions. He’s already bought two of the most important domain names in the AI space, and he’s not showing any signs of slowing down.
Is there any official confirmation?
No, there is no official confirmation that Elon Musk has bought ai.com. However, the domain name is now redirecting to x.ai, which is the website for Musk’s new AI company. It’s possible that the domain owner is simply redirecting the domain to x.ai without Musk having to actually buy it.
What does this mean for OpenAI?
It’s unclear what this means for OpenAI. The company has been struggling to keep up with Google and other AI giants, and it’s possible that Musk’s purchase of ai.com is a sign that he’s planning to take on OpenAI head-on.
Only time will tell what Musk’s plans are for ai.com. However, one thing is for sure: he’s not going to let anyone else control the future of AI.