The artificial intelligence boom is spilling into one of the oldest corners of the internet: domain names. OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic and other major technology companies are competing for new internet endings such as .agent, .agi, .asi and .intelligence as companies move to secure digital identities that could become increasingly valuable in the AI era. The rush follows the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers‘ (ICANN) latest opening for applications to create new generic top-level domains, or gTLDs.
On October 7, ICANN published the applications filed during its 2026 round, revealing 1,615 applications from 481 applicants.
The results show an unmistakable AI theme. Companies are not only pursuing their own brands such as .openai, .chatgpt and .facebook, but are also competing for generic terms connected to the technology itself.
The message from Silicon Valley is fairly clear: as AI agents, autonomous software and artificial general intelligence become bigger parts of the digital economy, the words used to describe them are becoming valuable pieces of internet real estate.
What are .agent, .agi and .asi?
A top-level domain is the final part of an internet address.
The familiar examples include .com, .org and country-code endings such as .uk and .in.
ICANN’s 2026 application round allows companies and organizations to propose entirely new endings.
Among the most heavily contested AI-related strings is .agent.
The public application data show 13 applicants seeking .agent, making it one of the more competitive new strings in the current round. OpenAI and Meta are both among the applicants.
The term is particularly relevant as AI systems increasingly move beyond answering questions and begin carrying out tasks on behalf of users.
The .agi string has seven applicants, including OpenAI.
AGI generally stands for artificial general intelligence, referring to an AI system capable of performing a broad range of intellectual tasks rather than being restricted to a specific function.
The .asi string has five applications in ICANN’s primary application records. OpenAI is again among the applicants.
ASI usually refers to artificial superintelligence, a hypothetical category of AI that would substantially exceed human intellectual capabilities.
Why are companies fighting over these domains?
A domain ending can become a branding asset.
For a company building an AI platform, owning a domain such as example.agent could eventually make a product appear more tightly associated with autonomous AI technology than using a conventional .com address.
The value is not necessarily in the domain itself.
It lies in the branding possibilities around it.
A successful applicant would operate the registry for that top-level domain, subject to ICANN’s rules and a registry agreement. That is fundamentally different from simply buying a website address from a registrar.
The company would potentially control the infrastructure and policies governing names registered under that TLD.
That makes generic strings potentially much more valuable than an ordinary domain registration.
OpenAI is seeking 15 new TLDs
OpenAI is one of the most aggressive technology companies in the current application round.
Its public application portfolio contains 15 primary strings, including names directly connected to its products and broader AI terminology.
Among them are:
.openai
.chatgpt
.codex
.gpt
.agent
.agi
.asi
.mcp
.model
.voice
Other applications in the company’s portfolio include .daybreak, .deploy, .evals, .oai and .skill.
The mix is revealing.
OpenAI is simultaneously trying to protect its corporate identity and position itself around the terminology that may define the next stage of AI development.
Owning .openai would provide a branded digital namespace.
Meanwhile, applications such as .agent, .agi and .model could potentially have broader strategic value if those concepts become central to future AI products.
Meta is applying even more broadly
Meta’s application strategy is even larger in the public ICANN filings.
Meta Registry Holdings has applied for a wide range of strings connected to its corporate brands and technologies.
These include:
.threads
.messenger
.meta
.llama
.metaai
.aiglasses
.metaglasses
.wearables
.superintelligence
Meta is also among the applicants for .agent.
The company is therefore pursuing both sides of the domain market: protected corporate branding and broad technology concepts.
The .superintelligence application is particularly notable because it is one of only two applications for that unusually long string.
Anthropic wants .claude and .anthropic
Anthropic is taking a more narrowly branded approach.
The artificial intelligence company has applied for .anthropic and .claude.
Those strings would be primarily useful as controlled digital spaces for Anthropic’s own products and services.
A future web address under a company-owned TLD could potentially make product URLs shorter and easier to recognize.
For example, instead of relying entirely on a conventional domain structure, a company could eventually use a compact address built around its own namespace.
That is not possible yet simply because an application has been filed.
Bluesky is also seeking its own internet identity
AI is not the only technology trend visible in the application data.
Bluesky has applied for .bsky, reflecting the broader move by technology platforms toward owning their own digital naming systems.
The potential use is particularly interesting for social networks, where domain names can become part of user identity.
A controlled TLD could potentially be incorporated into profiles, usernames or product links.
The round includes hundreds of brand applications
ICANN’s application list is not dominated exclusively by AI.
There are 333 applications classified as brand applications in the 2026 round.
Those include recognizable corporate names and trademarks such as .applebees, .bankofamerica, .zillow and .zoom.
For companies, a branded TLD can function almost like a digital extension of a corporate identity.
Instead of relying solely on a conventional .com address, the company can potentially create a namespace under its own brand.
That could eventually be used for websites, campaigns, applications, product pages and other online services.
There are plenty of unusual generic domains too
The current round also shows that domain-name experimentation extends far beyond AI.
Applicants have sought strings such as .geek, .haha, .anime and .jackpot.
Other unusual proposals are also in the mix.
The result is a much wider internet naming system than the familiar landscape dominated by .com, .org and national domains.
Yet there is a catch.
The availability of hundreds of new possible domain endings does not mean people will actually use them.
Why .com still matters
The previous wave of new gTLDs produced thousands of alternatives, but most never came close to displacing .com in public recognition.
Some newer endings did become successful.
The .ai domain has benefited enormously from the rise of artificial intelligence because startups and established companies alike increasingly associate the suffix with the technology sector.
The .app domain also gained traction.
But many other TLDs have remained niche.
That history explains why companies are now approaching the latest round strategically. The goal is not simply to create another obscure domain ending.
The most valuable strings are those that can develop genuine brand recognition and user demand.
Could .agent become a major AI domain?
Potentially, but its future depends on much more than the number of applications.
Because multiple parties have applied for .agent, ICANN will have to determine how the competing applications are handled under the 2026 round’s rules.
The applicants will not simply receive the domain on a first-come, first-served basis.
ICANN’s evaluation process includes technical, financial and other requirements. When multiple qualified applicants compete for the same string, the relevant contention-resolution mechanisms come into play.
That means .agent could eventually have a single registry operator, but the path to that outcome is still ahead.
The same applies to .agi, .asi and other contested strings.
Why AI companies care about digital naming now
The timing is no accident.
AI is moving from being primarily a software feature to becoming a layer through which people interact with computers.
AI agents can increasingly perform tasks such as searching for information, managing workflows and interacting with other software.
That shift creates a new category of digital identity.
A website no longer needs to be only a company’s front door. It can become part of a larger ecosystem involving AI agents, automated services and machine-to-machine interactions.
Owning a recognizable TLD could allow companies to build a branded namespace around that ecosystem.
For AI companies, that makes domain strategy a form of long-term digital positioning.
The Trump connection to .asi
The interest in .asi also has a political and linguistic angle.
The application has attracted attention because US President Donald Trump has repeatedly used the phrase “super intelligence” when discussing advanced AI and has argued for language that goes beyond the conventional term “artificial intelligence.”
Some companies appear interested in securing terminology that could gain greater prominence if the vocabulary of AI changes.
But a company’s application for .asi should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any particular political AI policy.
The broader explanation is simpler: companies want to own potentially valuable terms before competitors do.
Applying for a TLD does not mean you own it
This is perhaps the most important detail for readers.
The names appearing in ICANN’s database are proposed TLDs.
They are not yet functioning internet domains.
The application process has only reached the public-disclosure stage.
ICANN says the next steps include evaluation, contention resolution where necessary, contracting and eventual delegation.
Applicants also had an opportunity beginning October 8 to select replacement strings in certain circumstances, with String Confirmation Day scheduled for November 17.
So a company applying for .gpt today cannot simply begin selling addresses ending in .gpt tomorrow.
There is still a lengthy regulatory and technical process ahead.
What happened in the previous TLD expansion?
The 2026 round is the first major new gTLD application round since ICANN’s 2012 round.
The earlier expansion fundamentally changed the domain landscape by allowing companies and organizations to apply for new generic endings.
Some succeeded commercially, while many others remained relatively obscure.
The latest round arrives in a different technological environment.
AI companies now have enormous valuations, global customer bases and strong incentives to control their digital identities.
That makes the competition over short and meaningful strings more consequential than it might have been a decade ago.
The emerging battle over AI’s vocabulary
The significance of the latest ICANN filings goes beyond website addresses.
The companies competing for .agent, .agi, .asi, .intelligence and .superintelligence are effectively competing over pieces of AI vocabulary.
Language has always mattered in technology.
The company that popularizes a term can sometimes gain an enormous branding advantage around it.
Internet domains add another layer because a valuable word at the end of a URL can become a global digital signpost.
That is why the current application list is attracting so much attention.
OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic are not merely buying URLs.
They are positioning themselves for an internet in which AI may become the primary way people discover, access and interact with digital services.
What happens next?
ICANN’s process is only beginning.
The 1,615 applications now enter the next stages of evaluation and review. Where several applicants want the same string, those competing claims must eventually be resolved.
No new TLD from this round is expected to become officially delegated immediately.
But the strategic race has already started.
OpenAI is pursuing .openai and .gpt alongside generic AI terms. Meta is seeking its own corporate and technology namespaces. Anthropic wants .claude and .anthropic. Other registry operators are competing for many of the same generic words.
The broader lesson is that the AI race is no longer confined to chips, models and cloud infrastructure.
It has reached the address bar.
