You’ve just had a great idea for a new domain. Even better, it’s a .ai domain so you’ll be able to target the massively expanding Artificial Intelligence audience. There’s one small issue though…the domain is registered!
It’s a pretty common situation, where you’ve thought of an amazing domain that you want to register only to find out it’s already taken by someone else. It can be quite disheartening knowing that your dream domain is gone.
Fortunately, there’s no need to panic and start using a domain suggestion tool to find increasingly weird alternative domain names (how about Food, but spelled Fuewd?) as there are options available to you that will allow you to get your hands on the .ai domain you actually want, even if it’s already been registered. A lot of these options involve first figuring out who the owner of the domain is.
To do that, you’ll first need to do a .ai whois lookup, as this will give you all publicly available information about the domain owner.
Having said that, before you do your whois lookup, there are a few things you should know.
Do a .ai Domain Search to Be Certain It’s Registered
Before you do anything else, you need to be sure that the domain you’re looking to register is 100% officially taken. Who knows, maybe the first time you checked there was an issue causing all .ai domains to show as registered. This isn’t as uncommon as you might think.
To double-check if your desired domain is taken, firstly start by saying a prayer to its availability, perform another .ai domain search, and then hold your breath for a few seconds whilst you wait to get the domain search result.
Your .ai Domain Is Available! Act Now!
Congratulations! The domain you want to register is actually available. Don’t hesitate and get that domain registered ASAP before anyone else can. Especially as .ai TLDs are exploding in popularity at the moment.
The domain registration process to buy a .ai domain is very simple and will normally involve creating an account and then following a few on-screen prompts. For a more in-depth guide that gives you all the information you could ever want, please check out our how to buy a .ai domain guide.
Your .ai Domain Isn’t Available… What Options Do You Have?
Damn! You’ve double-checked the availability and unfortunately, the .ai domain extension you’re looking to register is definitely taken so you won’t be able to complete the .ai domain registration process.
If you’re dead set on registering this particular domain, you’ll first need to figure out who owns the domain.
Find Out Who Owns a .ai Domain
To find out who owns a .ai domain, the best method is to do a .ai whois lookup, which should give you the name and contact details of the current owner.
Just to avoid any confusion, “whois” is the standard domain name industry term for when someone wants to look up the domain owner. Think of it as looking up the owner of a company or trademark.
Each domain name extension should have its own whois directory, where users can find out the owner of any registered domain for that domain extension, and .ai is no exception.
You can do a whois lookup on our whois lookup page. Or if you’d rather go straight to the source, you can head to the governing body of .ai and do your .ai whois lookup there.
One potential issue you might run into is if the owner of the domain is using a whois privacy service. This means that the actual owner of the domain won’t be listed but rather the provider of the whois privacy service.
As a last resort to finding the owner of a .ai domain, to can simply type the domain name into your browser, see if there’s a live website on the domain, and then check to see if any contact information or email forms are embedded into the website.
Hopefully, by now you’ll know the owner of your desired .ai domain name. Now here’s what you can do with that information.
Lodge a .ai Domain Dispute
If you genuinely believe that you have a legal right to own the domain name, as in you have a registered trademark or company that is an exact match of the domain, and the current owner doesn’t have a legal right then you could lodge a domain dispute.
A domain dispute is a process where entities that have a legal right to a domain can launch legal proceedings against the current owner of a domain, with the goal of getting the owner to relinquish ownership.
Side Note: Did you know that .ai is the official country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Caribbean island of Anguilla? It’s only recently, with the rising popularity of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Robotics, and Deep Learning, that AI industry startups and other tech companies with the have started to use .ai for purposes unrelated to Anguilla.
The governing body of .ai uses the standard Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) as the framework for .ai domain disputes. You can read more about UDRP on the official website.
For domain disputes, it might be wise to contact a domain-focused brand protection company as they’ve no doubt gone through the process of legally securing domains for clients hundreds of times.
Resolving a domain dispute can be a long, drawn-out process and quite messy so it might not be the best option to start with unless you’re certain you can get the current owner to give up the domain without much of a fight.
Contact the Current .ai Domain Owner
If you were able to determine the owner of the domain using a whois lookup, then you could try contacting the owner directly and asking if they would be interested in selling the domain to you.
Yes, I know purchasing the domain from the current owner won’t be as cost-effective as registering a cheap .ai domain that’s still available, but unfortunately there’s not much chance you’ll get a domain owner to give up ownership just because you want the domain more than they do, even if you ask nicely.
Buying a domain directly from the current owner will normally involve a bit of negotiation to determine a sell price both parties are comfortable with and then the transaction is facilitated via an escrow service so both parties are protected.
Use a .ai Domain Broker Service
If you’re not comfortable contacting the owner yourself or would prefer to remain anonymous as part of the process, then you could use a domain broker service.
For a fee, a domain broker will act on your behalf to negotiate and facilitate the purchase of an already registered domain.
You would use a domain broker service if you’re a large company, which potentially could cause the current owner to add a few extra zeros to the end of the sell price or maybe it’s for a product launch and you don’t want any potential details leaking.
Check If the .ai Domain Is on the Aftermarket
If the current domain owner is open to selling the domain, then they’ve likely already listed it for sale on a domain aftermarket service.
It would be worth doing a search of what domains are listed for sale on aftermarket provider websites, like Sedo and Afternic, to see if the domain you want can be purchased.
Another way to conduct an aftermarket purchase is if the domain is for sale, it’s also likely that if you type the domain into your browser then you’ll see a for sale or ‘parking’ page, normally given to the owner by an aftermarket provider. The sale details like asking price or a ‘make an offer’ form should be listed.
Let the .ai Domain Expire
If you consider yourself somewhat of a gambler or have good patience, you could wait to see if the current owner simply lets the domain expire. If the domain does expire, then it will become available again and you’ll be able to register it as a normal domain name.
Unfortunately, the whois for .ai domains doesn’t include the expiry date and only a create date. This means a bit of guesswork will need to be involved to figure out the proper expiry date.
.ai domains need to be registered and renewed in two-year intervals so if you were to register a .ai domain on the 1st January 2026, the expiry date would be the 1st January 2028. Apply this logic to the whois listed create date of any .ai web address to get a rough idea of the expiry date.
Domains where the created domain is more than two years ago will mean it has been renewed so you’ll need to add two + two or more to get estimated expiry date.
Use a .ai Domain Backorder Service
If you still want to let the domain expire but give yourself the best possible chance of registering it, use a Domain Backorder Service.
For a fee, a backorder service provider will register domains the second they’re completely deleted and available for registration, so they’re recommended if you don’t want to lose a special domain for a second time.
The backorder service for an .ai domain is quite different when compared to say a .com domain as normally you’d have to use a third-party backorder service to register an expired domain. For .ai though, the governing body provides its own backorder service in the form of an auction service where you can submit bids for already expired .ai domains. This means that you’ll likely end up paying more than a third-party provider but if you want the .ai domain enough and you have the funds then you most likely will get the domain. Not a bad compromise.
Go and Explore Your Options
Hopefully reading this article has allowed you to find out who owns the .ai domain you want to register and has given you some genuine options you’ll consider regarding how to get that domain into your own hands.
From domain disputes to backorder services, you’ve still got a real chance of registering your dream domain. It’s now up to you to determine what’s your best course of action.
