While this news may sound surprising, it is far from it. OpenAI just got its hands on the Chat.com domain name. An acquisition worth more than $15 million that makes this transaction one of the largest in history for a domain name. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the news last Wednesday on social network X (formerly Twitter), just posting the URL chat.com. This domain now redirects directly to ChatGPT.
A domain name that is sold at a high price
First registered in September 1996, Chat.com is one of the oldest and most prestigious domain names on the web. It’s early 2023 Dharmesh Shahco-founder and CTO of HubSpotwho paid the record amount of $15.5 million to acquire this area.
A few months later, Shah resold Chat.com to an anonymous buyer, confirming that he made a capital gain on this transaction. Today, we learn that it is Open AI who is hiding behind this mysterious buyer, who probably paid even more to get this precious sesame.
Strategic investment for Open AI
For a company like Open AIWHO it recently raised $6.6 billionspending over 10 million for a domain name represents a small investment overall. But strategically, Chat.com ownership is very important.
Open AI in fact it appears to be refocusing its communications around ChatGPT, its flagship product. The removal of “GPT” from the chat.com URL is in line with the company’s recent rebranding efforts.
Last September, Open AI thus appeared a new series of reasoning models called “o1”. The former research director Bob McGrew then he explained that he wanted to adopt clearer names to better promote the company’s work.
The Future of AI Lies in “Chat UX”
Apart from the marketing side only, this acquisition of Chat.com shows a vision atOpen AI on the future of user interfaces. As mentioned Dharmesh Shah when he got this field:
“I think “Chat UX” is the next big revolution in software. Communicating with computers through a natural language interface is much more intuitive. This is what makes it possibleGenerational AI.”
With ChatGPT accessible directly from Chat.com, Open AI he seems to be betting big on this new paradigm of human-machine interaction. A strategy that could move the startup to the level of the most valuable company in the world.
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