The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced on October 7 the 2026 round of new generic top-level domain applications, totaling 1,615 from 481 applicants. AI-related strings are a crowded point.

.agent has 13 applications, with applicants including OpenAI, Meta, and iPollo. OpenAI submitted 15 main applications through OPENAI OPCO, LLC, including .openai, .chatgpt, .codex, .gpt, as well as .agent, .agi, .asi, .mcp, .model, .voice, with the others being .daybreak, .deploy, .evals, .oai, .skill. Anthropic submitted two: .anthropic and .claude.

Meta Registry Holdings submitted 18 main applications, with brand strings including .facebook, .instagram, .whatsapp, .threads, .messenger, .meta, as well as .llama, .metaai, .aiglasses, .metaglasses, .wearables, .superintelligence. The controversy set shows 7 for .agi, 5 for .asi, and .agent has more than the sum of the latter two. OpenAI and Radix appear in all three groups.

There are also multiple applications for crypto-related strings, with the public list including .btc, .bnb, and Cardano-related .ada. In the commercial technology strings, .bit has 11 applications, while .api, .brand, and .hub each have 10 applications. Publication does not equal approval or delegation.

The application window is from April 30 to August 12. Among the 1,615 applications, there are 333 brand applications, 16 community applications, 15 self-reported geographic names, and 21 internationalized domain names. Regionally, there are 864 from North America, 506 from Europe, 218 from Asia-Pacific, 16 from Africa, and 11 from Latin America and the Caribbean. The evaluation fee for each string is $227,000. The replacement string window is open until October 21, with November 17 being the string confirmation date, after which it enters the objection period. This round of delegation is expected to occur between 2028 and 2030.

The buyers are companies and investors competing for suffix registry rights, while the sellers are other applicants for the same string. The event is driven by the publication date, not domain transactions. The $227,000 fee is merely an entry fee; controversial strings will still need to be auctioned or withdrawn. Beneficiaries are applicants who can exclusively own strings like .gpt and .claude, while the 13 competitors for .agent will only leave one registry. Companies that did not make the list will have to rent names under others' suffixes in the future.

Source: Public information