In the past year, the ownership of the domain name ai.com has changed hands three times, with its latest buyer being Marques Keith Brownlee, also known as MKBHD—a surprise entry to the field of AI.
Even though ai.com is still owned by X (formerly Twitter), as confirmed by an employee of the company, it is not yet clear why the domain name is leading to Brownlee’s YouTube video on “AI Generated Videos Just Changed Forever”
Who is MKBHD?
MKBHD, a renowned American tech YouTuber and professional ultimate frisbee player, has gained popularity for his tech-focused videos and podcasts. With a following of over 20 million subscribers and 3.93 billion views on YouTube, MKBHD is a leading figure in tech reviews, earning appreciation from industry leaders like Apple CEO Tim Cook and former Google executive Vic Gundotra.
In addition to creating videos which are characterised by easy explanation and high-quality production, the thirty year old collaborates with major tech companies for his podcast Waveform. Launched in July 2019, the podcast explores consumer electronics, featuring the latest news, product reviews, and interviews with influential figures, such as Elon Musk and Sundar Pichai.
Apart from his online presence, MKBHD is an accomplished ultimate frisbee player, competing professionally for the New York Empire in the American Ultimate Disc League. He won AUDL championships in 2019, 2022, and 2023 and achieved international success by winning the WFDF World Ultimate Club Championship with New York PoNy in 2022.
Growth Story of ai.com
Prior to MKBHD, the ownership of the domain name was under Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter). In November, xAI joined the chatbot competition with its generative AI chatbot Grok, developed as a prototype in less than four months.
However, the former founding member of OpenAI acquired the domain name from the company’s CEO Sam Altman in August 2023. Altman secured the username in February 2023, aiming to make AI synonymous with ChatGPT. This happened after many users on X were trolling ChatGPT over its two syllables after Google released its LLM chatbot Gemini (previously known as Bard).
OpenAI is currently basking in the success of its latest video generation model Sora which has been gaining popularity for its hyperrealistic unique features.
[Updated] February 22, 2024, 11:45 | The story has been updated to show that MKBHD doesn’t own ai.com
