Trump’s AI Rebrand Linked to Surge in Slovenian Domain Registrations

Summary

President Donald Trump’s proposal to replace the term “artificial intelligence” with “super intelligence,” or “SI,” may have helped drive an unprecedented surge in registrations of Slovenian .si web domains. Register.si said 44,000 addresses were registered in September, compared with fewer than 2,000 in August, an increase of more than 2,100%. The registry recorded 11,000 registrations on 30 September alone and said September stood out clearly from other months in the past year. Trump made the proposal during a 11 September speech to the United Nations General Assembly, arguing that “artificial” makes the technology sound fake. A later executive order instructed US government departments and agencies to use “SI” and “Super Intelligence” instead of “AI” in official correspondence, websites, reports and other communications. Register.si spokeswoman Klara Herman cautioned that Trump’s comments could not necessarily explain the entire increase. Another possible explanation is speculative domain investment, in which buyers register names in the hope of selling them later at a profit. The article also notes that an earlier reference to cyber-squatting was corrected because ordinary speculative registration is a legitimate business activity.