Trump's new name for AI sparks unexpected rush for Slovenia's web domains: Here’s why

On Wednesday alone, 11,000 new .si web addresses were registered. For most of the past year, Slovenia's registry managed roughly a thousand a month. The reason is a two-letter abbreviation President Donald Trump now wants the US government to use for artificial intelligence.

On Tuesday, Trump hosted what he called "an extraordinary gathering" of tech bosses. He then signed an order telling US departments and agencies to use "SI" and "Super Intelligence" and to stop acknowledging "AI".

The new terms replace the old in official correspondence, websites and reports. Trump's argument is that "artificial" makes the technology sound fake. "It's not fake; it's actually amazing," he said.

The domain extension .si is a unique identification for the country of Slovenia. According to its regulator ARNES, by Tuesday morning the number of registered domains was around 219,800. In speaking on this phenomenon, the spokeswoman Klara Herman said September was "extremely" different from other months but refrained from linking it to any words of Donald Trump.

In all likelihood, there should be a portion of speculation involved as well. Cyber-squatting refers to acquiring a domain name that could be valuable and selling it afterward. In 1997, Rick Schwartz purchased men.com for $15,000 and sold it after seven years at the price of $1.32 million.

Rebranding also became a joke on the Internet. The order signed by Donald Trump had "United States" spelt wrongly.

Slovenia has a population of around 2.1 million, and it was not prepared for this phenomenon. It is not clear whether the surge is temporary or becomes permanent due to the popularity of "SI". The most interesting thing will be to follow the statistics of the Slovenian registry next month, in October.