On Tuesday, OpenAI unveiled a new offering named Dots, which features a lively, rounded avatar functioning as an always-active AI assistant. While the vibrant design aims to bring joy, the real chuckle from this launch may be experienced by Elon Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI who departed to create a competing service called Grok and has made unsuccessful legal attempts against the company.
This is particularly amusing because the domain “dot.com” is owned by Musk’s xAI, which currently reroutes users to the Grok chatbot app’s download page. As per the Whois registry, this domain was transferred in July.
It’s plausible that xAI acquired the domain for conventional reasons related to domain acquisition. The name “Dot” might be a common typographical error for “bot,” so they picked it up to capture those misdirected searches. We’ve attempted to reach out to xAI for clarification. However, it’s worth noting that xAI does not possess the “bot.com” domain, nor does it hold other evident typographical variations like “vot.com,” which is currently available for purchase.
The prevailing online speculation is far more entertaining: suggesting that Musk or his team orchestrated a humorous stunt by acquiring the domain upon learning of OpenAI’s new product and its name.
Interestingly, an anonymous user on X and an observer of xAI, known as @birdabo (who humorously identifies as “chief shitposting officer @SpaceXAI”) was the first to spot the domain, leading to a now widely circulated post. Regardless of what prompted the acquisition, the situation certainly provides a good laugh.
As for the domain “dots.com,” which would be a more appropriate match for the product name, it is currently held by a company that has long since ceased operations. If the intention was indeed to pull off a petty prank, acquiring that domain would truly elevate the prank to the next level.
