A 30-second teaser during the Super Bowl turned a bare domain into the weekend’s most Googled mystery. The ad urged viewers to visit AI.com and reserve a username, hinting that even celebrity handles were up for grabs. Minutes after the spot aired, the site buckled under a tidal wave of traffic—an early sign that the strategy worked.
Behind the splashy debut is a record-setting domain purchase and an unusually stealthy product rollout. The new owner says AI.com will become an AI assistant platform with a social layer, but for now, it’s a tightly controlled land grab for handles—and a case study in how to buy attention in a single play.
Who Owns AI.com and What’s the Plan for It
AI.com is now controlled by Kris Marszalek, the co-founder and CEO of the company behind one of the world’s largest crypto platforms. He publicly acknowledged the acquisition on his social account, noting he secured the domain months earlier and quietly flipped the switch just hours before the Super Bowl ad.
The purchase price—$70 million—was confirmed by domain broker Larry Fischer of Get Your Domains. Industry chatter suggests the deal closed in cryptocurrency and below a previously floated $100 million ask. The seller is widely believed to be early Bitcoin investor Arsyan Ismail, who reportedly acquired the name for around $10 million from Future Media Architects years prior, according to domain market observers.
What Marszalek intends to build is framed as an AI assistant platform with social features. The ad’s focus on handle reservations hints at a networked experience—think AI agents tied to human identities—rather than a single-purpose chatbot.
How the Site Works Right Now for Early Users
Early visitors can sign in with a Google account and claim two identifiers: a personal @handle and a separate handle for their AI. The process ends with a credit card verification step. There’s no charge; it’s a fraud and bot-prevention measure that also signals an intent to keep the namespace clean.
A footnote on the site says public figures with more than 100,000 followers can be verified and may secure handles matching their profiles on a major social platform. That line reveals a familiar playbook: seed credibility with recognizable names, then open the doors wider.
Why $70 Million For A Domain Makes Sense
Two-letter, category-defining domains are the blue-chip real estate of the internet. “AI” is arguably the most economically charged pair of letters today, attached to everything from chips and cloud to software and services. In recent years, premium domains have commanded eye-watering prices: Voice.com sold for $30 million and 360.com for $17 million, according to DNJournal and domain brokerage disclosures. AI.com at $70 million resets the bar for a pure domain sale—no website, no operating business, just the name.
The logic is simple: type-in traffic, brand authority, and instant global recall. With generative AI investment surging into the tens of billions, per PitchBook and analyst estimates, a flagship domain can compress years of brand-building into a single asset. Pair that with a Super Bowl spot—media buyers peg a 30-second ad around $7 million—and you have an expensive but coherent go-to-market statement.
The Super Bowl Tactic And The Handle Land Grab
Driving viewers to reserve scarce usernames taps into classic network-effects psychology. Early social platforms grew by promising short, memorable handles; the same dynamic can prime an AI service where users manage both their identity and their agent’s identity. It also seeds word-of-mouth as people race to lock in names for themselves, their projects, or their brands.
Nielsen has long shown Super Bowl viewership routinely topping 100 million in the U.S., making it the rare event where a cryptic URL can spark mass curiosity. The immediate slowdown after the ad aired suggests demand was real, not manufactured—an encouraging, if chaotic, first test of infrastructure.
What to Watch Next as AI.com Reveals Its Platform
The big question is what shows up behind the login. An AI assistant with a social layer could look like a feed of human-plus-agent interactions, a marketplace of specialized AIs, or tools that let people “program” agents and share them with followers. The decision to verify identities and protect handles suggests a platform that wants trust and accountability built in from day one.
There’s also reputational risk. Turning an eight-figure domain and a Super Bowl buy into sustained engagement requires a product that justifies the hype. But the team behind AI.com has a track record of making bold brand moves—securing a top-tier domain and marquee naming rights in the past—and now holds the rarest possible address for the hottest sector on the web.
For now, AI.com is a velvet rope and a promise. The price tag, the ad, and the handle rush set expectations sky high. The next reveal will need to show that the domain isn’t just premium real estate—it’s the front door to a product worthy of the name.
