For years, .ai has been the default address for anything built on machine learning. This week, the President of the United States gave the industry a new two-letter abbreviation to think about: SI. And .si happens to be a real, open, affordable domain extension.
What happened: from "Artificial" to "Super" Intelligence
Donald Trump argued that the word "artificial" makes the technology sound fake, and asked his followers to pick a replacement name in a series of polls on Truth Social and X. Here is how it played out:
| Date (2026) | What happened |
|---|---|
| Sep 19 | First poll: Superior, Extreme or Supreme Intelligence. "Superior Intelligence" leads. |
| Sep 20 | "Supreme" is dropped. In the final two on X, Superior Intelligence wins 52% to 48% over Extreme Intelligence (184,872 votes). |
| Sep 21 | A third poll pits Superior against Super Intelligence. "Super" wins clearly on Truth Social. |
| Sep 22 | At the UN General Assembly, Trump says U.S. government documents will switch to "the much more accurate term Super as opposed to Artificial." |
Whichever word finally sticks, Superior or Super, the abbreviation is the same: SI. Reactions have been mixed and plenty of people are mocking the idea. For domain investors that matters less than one fact: millions of people just saw "SI" presented as the new name for AI.
Why this matters for domains: the .ai precedent
.ai is the country-code domain of Anguilla, a small Caribbean territory. It became one of the most wanted extensions on the internet for one reason: the two letters match a technology everybody talks about. Startups, labs and product launches moved to .ai, and prices for good names followed.
.si could follow the same path. It is the country-code domain of Slovenia, and now it also reads as Super Intelligence or Superior Intelligence. The pattern is familiar: a ccTLD whose letters happen to match a tech term, like .io (input/output) and .ai before it.
.ai vs .si at a glance
| .ai | .si | |
|---|---|---|
| Country | Anguilla | Slovenia |
| Reads as | Artificial Intelligence | Super / Superior Intelligence |
| Local presence needed | No | No |
| Short, memorable names | Heavily registered | Far less demand so far, worth checking |
| Typical price | Premium ccTLD pricing | EUR 16.30 / year at ISTanCo |
Who should look at a .si domain now
- AI startups and products that want a short, on-trend name while the matching .ai or .com is taken or too expensive.
- Brand protection: if you own yourbrand.ai, registering yourbrand.si for about EUR 16 a year is cheap insurance if "SI" catches on.
- Domain investors looking for early positions on generic keywords (agent, lab, model, bot, chat...) before any hype arrives.
- Slovenian businesses, the original audience of .si, which is still the natural choice for the local market.
A word of caution
A renamed technology in U.S. government paperwork does not guarantee that engineers, media or investors will stop saying "AI". The .ai boom took years and was driven by the industry itself, not by a decree. Treat .si as an inexpensive, speculative bet, not a sure thing. Registering a handful of strong names costs little. Paying aftermarket premiums on hype alone is another story.
How to register a .si domain
.si registration is open to everyone: you do not need to live in Slovenia or have a Slovenian company. You only need accurate registrant and contact details. Check availability with the WHOIS tool above, then register, transfer or renew at istanco.net/si-domain. Registration, renewal and transfer are all EUR 16.30 per year, and you can register for 1 to 5 years.
AI took the .ai extension mainstream. If "SI" becomes the new buzzword, .si names that are still cheap today will be much harder to get later.