Trump's AI rebrand causes 'unprecedented' demand for Slovenian website names

A sudden spike in registrations of Slovenia's .si internet domains followed Donald Trump’s public push to rename "artificial intelligence" as "super intelligence" (SI). Slovenia’s national registry, Register.si, reported 44,000 .si domains registered in September versus fewer than 2,000 in August - an increase of more than 2,100% - and recorded 11,000 registrations on 30 September alone. Register.si described the late-September activity as "unprecedented" compared with the previous year, while its spokeswoman Klara Herman cautioned that not all of the surge can be definitively linked to the US president’s comments.

Observers point to domain speculation as a likely driver: people often buy names they expect to rise in value and sell them later, a legitimate investment practice illustrated by past high-value sales such as men.com. The registrations followed Trump’s UN speech on 11 September and an executive order directing US government use of the terms "SI" and "Super Intelligence" instead of AI; the order and its launch events - including a tech summit - attracted online mockery when a signature image contained a misspelling of "United States." A correction clarified earlier wording around cyber-squatting, emphasizing that registering domains as an investment is a lawful business activity.