OpenAI has just taken a new strategic step to consolidate its leadership in the artificial intelligence sector: Sam Altman’s company has acquired the domain ‘chat.com’ and now this URL redirects to the web version of their AI platform, ChatGPT.
This purchase is significant for several reasons. First of all, it is one of the oldest domains on the web and its history goes back more than thirty years. Secondly, OpenAI is believed to have spent a whopping about fifteen million dollars to take over this corner of the Internet. And, third and last, it is possibly one of the most easy to remember.
Is it justified for a company to invest so much money in something so small? We tell you what does this movement hide on the part of one of the companies at the crest of the Silicon Valley wave.
Why OpenAI has bought ‘chat.com’: a domain with history
Altman’s It is not exactly a company foreign to bold decisions. Founded in 2015, OpenAI initially set out to research and develop safe AI to benefit humanity. Over the years, the organization has evolved from its beginnings as a nonprofit research lab to a company that commercializes powerful language models. ChatGPT, its flagship tool launched to the public in November 2022, has become synonymous with advances in generative AI, attracting millions of users. AND All this means a lot of dollars in your pocket. But they want more.
It was the executive director of OpenAI himself who has published a post in X with the simple URL which automatically redirects to ChatGPT:
The domain ‘chat.com’ was originally registered in 1996making it one of the oldest and most valuable URLs on the web.
As the years have passed and the Internet has become the giant that it is, domains with keywords single-word generics have been highly sought after due to its ability to attract massive organic traffic.
A purchase of more than 15 million dollars
Previously, ‘chat.com’ was owned by Dharmesh Shah, founder and CTO of HubSpotwho had bought it in early 2023 for $15.5 million. A few months later, Shah himself announced that he had sold the domain and, although he did not reveal the details of the sale or the buyer, He said he had sold it for more. than what he had originally paid for it.
Now this businessman has made a small game in X to let the users try find out how much this transaction costsince OpenAI has not revealed the exact figure.
As told by Shah, The acquisition has exceeded fifteen million dollars. Although we must not forget that, after having received a mega investment of 6,600—yes: millions of dollars—that surely seems like breadcrumbs to OpenAI.
However, as ridiculous as it may seem, ‘chat.com’ is not even close to being the most expensive web domain in history: 872 million dollars were paid for ‘cars.com’30 million dollars for ‘voice.com’, 18 million dollars for ‘internet.com’ and 14 million dollars for ‘sex.com’.
The strategy behind the purchase
The OpenAI movement has a clear goal: make it easier for users to access ChatGPTimproving the company’s presence on the web and simplifying the browsing experience.
Now, By typing ‘chat.com’ in the browser, you will automatically go to ‘chatgpt.com’the official page of the service.
This practice is not new and other major companies, such as Amazon and Google, have purchased key domains to strengthen your brand and prevent competitors from using them.
The acquisition of ‘chat.com’ comes at a time when the competition in the market for language models and AI tools It’s fiercer than ever. And OpenAI is aware of its need to stay at the center of the conversation.
That is without taking into account that removal of ‘GPT’ of the domain aligns with OpenAI’s recent rebranding efforts: let’s remember that In September the company announced new models under the name ‘o1’which suggests a future under an umbrella away from the ChatGPT that we all know.
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