ICANN has officially opened the application process for new top-level domains, marking the first such initiative in several years. The organization reported receiving 1,615 applications from 481 distinct entities. These submissions include both generic suffixes and branded domains intended for corporate use.
The surge in artificial intelligence interest is reflected in the applications. Ten companies, including Meta and OpenAI, are competing for the .agent domain. Seven applicants, among them OpenAI, seek the .agi suffix. Additionally, six organizations applied for .asi, four for .intelligence, and two, including Meta, for .superintelligence.
Branded domains represent a significant portion of the submissions, with 345 applications filed. Major corporations are seeking their own TLDs, such as .applebees, .bankofamerica, .zillow, and .zoom. Meta has requested domains like .facebook, .instagram, and .meta, while OpenAI applied for .chatgpt and .gpt.
Other notable applications include generic terms like .geek, .haha, .anime, .jackpot, and .itiswhatitis. Meanwhile, Bluesky has submitted an application for .bsky, potentially to integrate the domain into user handles. The official approval process for these new domain extensions is expected to conclude sometime next year.
