OpenAI, Meta Seek New .agent and .agi Web Domains From ICANN

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has opened its first new round of top-level domain applications in years, and the early results show companies racing to claim web suffixes tied to artificial intelligence, according to The Verge.

ICANN, the nonprofit that oversees the internet's naming system, disclosed 1,615 applications from 481 different applicants in the current round, The Verge reported. Top-level domains are the suffixes that follow the final dot in a web address — familiar examples include .com, .org and .pizza — and companies can apply to operate new ones for public registration or for exclusive brand use.

How many companies are applying for .agent and .agi?

Ten companies, including Meta and OpenAI, applied for rights to the .agent domain, The Verge reported, a term tied to the AI industry's push toward autonomous software agents that can complete tasks on a user's behalf. Seven applicants, also including OpenAI, sought .agi, shorthand for artificial general intelligence, the Verge report said.

Why are companies also chasing .asi and .superintelligence?

Six applicants, among them OpenAI, applied for .asi, which The Verge linked to President Trump's stated preference for the term "super intelligence" over "artificial intelligence." Meta was one of two companies that applied for the domain .superintelligence, according to the outlet. Four separate companies applied for .intelligence, The Verge reported.

The scale of the filings from the two best-known AI labs stands out. OpenAI applied for a total of 15 new top-level domains in this round, while Meta applied for 21, The Verge reported, citing ICANN's disclosure.

What other kinds of domains were submitted in this round?

The Verge divided the roughly 1,615 applications into two broad categories. The first is generic domains intended for broad public registration — hundreds of applications fall into this group, including requests for suffixes such as .geek, .haha, .anime, .jackpot and .itiswhatitis, according to the outlet. The second category covers purely branded domains, where a single company seeks exclusive control of a suffix tied to its own name for internal or marketing use. The Verge counted 345 applications in that brand category.

Is this ICANN's first expansion of web domains in years?

Yes. The Verge's report describes this as the first time in years that ICANN has accepted applications for new top-level domains, a process the organization periodically reopens to expand the namespace beyond the original set of suffixes. The current batch of 1,615 applications represents the initial tally ICANN has made public; the figure could still change as the review process continues, though The Verge did not report a timeline for approval or rejection decisions.

What happens next for applicants seeking AI-related domains

ICANN's disclosure covers submitted applications, not approvals. Multiple companies applying for the same string — as with the ten bidders for .agent or the six for .asi — typically triggers a review and resolution process before any single applicant is awarded control of a domain, though The Verge's report did not detail ICANN's specific adjudication timeline for this round. The outlet's framing suggests the volume of AI-themed requests reflects how central agent-based software and large-scale AI branding have become across the tech sector, from foundation-model developers to companies building consumer-facing AI products.

By the Numbers

• 1,615 total new domain applications submitted to ICANN in the current round, from 481 different applicants, per The Verge.
• 10 companies applied for .agent; 7 applied for .agi; 6 applied for .asi — OpenAI is among the applicants for all three, according to the outlet.
• OpenAI applied for 15 total new top-level domains; Meta applied for 21, The Verge reported.
• 345 of the submitted applications are purely branded domains reserved for a single company's own use, per the outlet's count.

The pattern mirrors a broader push by AI developers to secure branding real estate across every available channel, from product names to now the underlying architecture of web addresses. Whether regulators or ICANN's own review process slow that push for contested strings like .agent and .asi remains to be seen in later disclosures from the organization.

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