I think there are bound to be massive drops in .ai at some point, simply because so many of the names I see listed are so weak.
But I think the extension has achieved enough real world use that it is now in the list of TLDs that startup founders consider. I recently looked at the names and domain names used by Y Combinator 2023S group. .AI clearly emerged after .com as the next preferred choice.
I followed the 'debate' between Rosener and Booth with interest. They both made good points. There is no doubt AI the technology, not the .ai TLD, will be the technological change of our generation and we are still in early stages of implementation. I do agree with Rosener view that almost every business will employ AI and it will be redundant to think you need it in your name, in either the SLD or TLD, for most companies.
I worry that the registry operation appears to be mainly a single person, and I think the challenge of .ai will be can they professionally run a large registry.
Re premium pricing, maybe we will see it like .co, but since all pricing is so substantial in .ai,, I suspect they will be happy with that route, with regular increases. If new extensions had followed this model there would be a lot less confusion.
-Bob
PS It is sometimes overlooked that there was a significant aftermarket in .ai for some time. Three, four and five years ago there was a volume of more than $1 million per year, using NameBio data so a fraction of entire market. True that increased manyfold in 2023, but .ai has been one of the stronger country codes for some time.
