For Anguilla – the quiet Caribbean gem most widely known as a sun-and-sand snowbird haven – it all started with a little bit of luck. Assigned the .ai domain name all the way back in 1996, the then-residents of Anguilla could scarcely predict that the rise of ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Gemini almost three decades later would turn .ai into one of the world’s most desirable domains.
The opportunity was not lost on Anguilla. In 2024, the country reaped US$39 million from domain name sales to tech companies. Proceeds from domain sales are now the island’s second greatest source of income after tourism, and residents are reaping the rewards via lower taxes and renewed investment in infrastructure.
Going forward, the island’s government has big plans to parlay the fortuitous connection between Anguilla and Artificial Intelligence into something greater – to position Anguilla, as the minister of infrastructure Jose Vanterpool characterizes it – as the AI and Tech Capital of the Caribbean.
Vanterpool, a computer science graduate of the University of Bristol, understands the potential of artificial intelligence – and what it might mean for Anguilla – very well.
As such, the wheels are already in motion: to create a data centre, to attract leaders from OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft for AI conferences, and to train an entire AI-native populace.
In the latter case, Anguilla’s small size is a distinct competitive advantage.
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