SoftwareAIOpenAI has bought the URL of what used to be an adult video chat website for more than $15,500,000When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
SoftwareAIOpenAI has bought the URL of what used to be an adult video chat website for more than $15,500,000When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Getty Images - NurPhoto)
Head over tochat.comand you’ll notice you’re redirected to chatgpt.com, where you can talk with one of OpenAI’s LLM chatbots.The Verge pointed this outafter noticingOpenAI CEO Sam Altman Tweeted(or rather, “X’d”?) just the chat.com URL, presumably because the redirect had just gone live.
The previous owner of the URL was HubSpot founder Dharmesh Shah who purchased it in 2023for $15.5 million. According to aWikipedia list of the most expensive domains, it’s the third most expensive URL on the internet, after voice.com and 360.com. Last year,Shah confirmedhe sold the URL for more than he paid for it, so we can infer that OpenAI bought it for more than $15,500,000.
BREAKING NEWS: Secret acquirer of $15+ million domain chat .com revealed and it’s exactly who you’d think.For those of you that have been following me for a while, you may recall that I announced earlier this year that I had acquired the domain chat .com for an “8 figure sum”… https://t.co/nv1IyddP5zNovember 6, 2024
BREAKING NEWS: Secret acquirer of $15+ million domain chat .com revealed and it’s exactly who you’d think.For those of you that have been following me for a while, you may recall that I announced earlier this year that I had acquired the domain chat .com for an “8 figure sum”… https://t.co/nv1IyddP5zNovember 6, 2024
We don’t know exactly how much higher than this number the URL sold for. But while Shah doesn’t give us a figure, he does give us a detailed prompt for GPT o1, asking for it to provide an “approximate range”, which he says the model “does a really good job of reasoning through.”
I put this prompt into ChatGPT and it came up with a domain sale price of $20 million to $25 million, with 50% to 70% of this being OpenAI shares.
It’s a catchy and versatile URL, of course, so that it’s going for a lot of cash isn’t too surprising. At least according to some archived snapshots of the website from as recently as 2019, the chat.com URL used to lead to an adult video cam and chat room website. (How much of the internet do they say is pornographic, again?)
Shah’s confirmation that OpenAI was the company to purchase the chat.com URL came when he said the “secret acquirer of [the] $15+ million domain chat.com [is] revealed and it’s exactly who you’d think.”
It’s “exactly who you’d think” because, well, what other big player can you think of that would be as keen to use “chat” in its branding? If there’s one company that could become synonymous with “chat” branding, as broad as that term is, it would be OpenAI with its ChatGPT models.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
AI, explained(Image credit: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)What is artificial general intelligence?:We dive into the lingo of AI and what the terms actually mean.
AI, explained
(Image credit: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)What is artificial general intelligence?:We dive into the lingo of AI and what the terms actually mean.
(Image credit: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
What is artificial general intelligence?:We dive into the lingo of AI and what the terms actually mean.
And if you’re wondering why a not-for-profit company would care so much about branding: don’t. It’s now not even an open secret so much as an open fact that OpenAI is vying to become for-profit. Just a few days ago the company began discussing the possibility with theCalifornia attorney general’s office.
I’m a little skeptical of some recent talk about ChatGPT havingalreadydone a lot of this rebranding, however, given that the Chat/ChatGPT website and model selector still says ChatGPT, not “OpenAI Chat” or just “Chat”. Plus, “ChatGPT” is such a ubiquitous name, now, that I wonder how beneficial it would be to switch away from the branding.
Then again, if AI chat really does become a new standard for interfacing with all our tech, it might make sense to pivot towards a more general branding for the long term.
TOPICSHardware
TOPICS
More about aiNvidia’s impressive AI-based computer tuneup tool G-Assist launches next month but the best bit is missingLogitech has announced an ‘intelligent streaming assistant’ in Streamlabs to tell you when your live stream sucksLatestToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11See more latest►
More about aiNvidia’s impressive AI-based computer tuneup tool G-Assist launches next month but the best bit is missingLogitech has announced an ‘intelligent streaming assistant’ in Streamlabs to tell you when your live stream sucksLatestToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11See more latest►
More about aiNvidia’s impressive AI-based computer tuneup tool G-Assist launches next month but the best bit is missingLogitech has announced an ‘intelligent streaming assistant’ in Streamlabs to tell you when your live stream sucks
More about ai
Nvidia’s impressive AI-based computer tuneup tool G-Assist launches next month but the best bit is missingLogitech has announced an ‘intelligent streaming assistant’ in Streamlabs to tell you when your live stream sucks
Nvidia’s impressive AI-based computer tuneup tool G-Assist launches next month but the best bit is missing
Nvidia’s impressive AI-based computer tuneup tool G-Assist launches next month but the best bit is missing
Logitech has announced an ‘intelligent streaming assistant’ in Streamlabs to tell you when your live stream sucks
Logitech has announced an ‘intelligent streaming assistant’ in Streamlabs to tell you when your live stream sucks
LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11See more latest►
Latest
Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11
Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11
Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11
See more latest►
Most PopularPiranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’Marvel Rivals’ latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod sceneSorry everyone, Minecraft 2 is cancelled, and it might be our faultTeam Fortress 2 just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get’ going for around $40KIs the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.Elden Ring: Nightreign is getting a closed network test, and I’m totally not fuming because PC players aren’t invited to the party, or anythingIf you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 offAMD is now reportedly making all-American Ryzen 9000 CPU dies at TSMC’s Arizona fabI tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at bayFinal Fantasy 14 communities panic as it turns out change to blacklisting, meant to help reduce stalking, also lets players use mods to track their altsTikTok’s time in the US may be ticking to a close as it makes a last stand in the Supreme Court, though Trump now says he ‘opposes banning’ it
Most PopularPiranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’Marvel Rivals’ latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod sceneSorry everyone, Minecraft 2 is cancelled, and it might be our faultTeam Fortress 2 just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get’ going for around $40KIs the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.Elden Ring: Nightreign is getting a closed network test, and I’m totally not fuming because PC players aren’t invited to the party, or anythingIf you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 offAMD is now reportedly making all-American Ryzen 9000 CPU dies at TSMC’s Arizona fabI tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at bayFinal Fantasy 14 communities panic as it turns out change to blacklisting, meant to help reduce stalking, also lets players use mods to track their altsTikTok’s time in the US may be ticking to a close as it makes a last stand in the Supreme Court, though Trump now says he ‘opposes banning’ it
Most PopularPiranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’Marvel Rivals’ latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod sceneSorry everyone, Minecraft 2 is cancelled, and it might be our faultTeam Fortress 2 just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get’ going for around $40KIs the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.Elden Ring: Nightreign is getting a closed network test, and I’m totally not fuming because PC players aren’t invited to the party, or anythingIf you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 offAMD is now reportedly making all-American Ryzen 9000 CPU dies at TSMC’s Arizona fabI tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at bayFinal Fantasy 14 communities panic as it turns out change to blacklisting, meant to help reduce stalking, also lets players use mods to track their altsTikTok’s time in the US may be ticking to a close as it makes a last stand in the Supreme Court, though Trump now says he ‘opposes banning’ it
Most Popular
Piranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’
Marvel Rivals' latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod scene
Sorry everyone, Minecraft 2 is cancelled, and it might be our fault
Team Fortress 2 just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get’ going for around $40K
Is the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.
Elden Ring: Nightreign is getting a closed network test, and I’m totally not fuming because PC players aren’t invited to the party, or anything
If you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 off
AMD is now reportedly making all-American Ryzen 9000 CPU dies at TSMC’s Arizona fab
I tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at bay
Final Fantasy 14 communities panic as it turns out change to blacklisting, meant to help reduce stalking, also lets players use mods to track their alts
TikTok’s time in the US may be ticking to a close as it makes a last stand in the Supreme Court, though Trump now says he ‘opposes banning’ it
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS
1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
1
Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop
2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop
2
Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop
3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
3
Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands
4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands
4
Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands
5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested
5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested
5
Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested
1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review
1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review
1
Thank Goodness You’re Here! review
2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review
2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review
2
Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review
3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review
3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review
3
WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review
4Ikea Utespelare desk review
4Ikea Utespelare desk review
4
Ikea Utespelare desk review
5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
5
Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
