Internet spots a possible xAI prank in OpenAI's new Dots launch

OpenAI launched a new product called Dots on Tuesday: an always-on AI agent with a bubbly, blobby avatar. The bigger reaction, though, may belong to Elon Musk — the former OpenAI founder who left the company, launched rival Grok through xAI, and unsuccessfully sued OpenAI.

That’s because the domain “dot.com” belongs to Musk’s xAI, and it currently redirects to the download page for xAI’s Grok chatbot app. According to the WHOIS domain registry, the domain was transferred to its current owner just this past July.

It’s entirely possible xAI bought the domain for ordinary reasons — “dot” could be read as a typo of “bot,” making it a reasonable catch for mistyped searches. TechCrunch has reached out to xAI to ask. But xAI doesn’t own the domain “bot.com,” nor other obvious typo domains such as “vot.com,” which is currently listed for sale — a gap that undercuts the simple typo-catching explanation.

The more popular theory online is that Musk, or his team, spotted OpenAI’s upcoming product name and bought the domain as a prank. An anonymous X user and xAI watcher who goes by @birdabo — self-described as “chief shitposting officer @SpaceXAI” — was first to surface the domain in a post that went viral.

The more literal match, “dots.com,” currently belongs to a long-defunct company unrelated to either OpenAI or xAI. If a petty prank really was the motivation, picking up that domain too would be the next logical move.

Why it matters

Whether or not the domain purchase was deliberate, it’s a reminder of how personal the rivalry between OpenAI and Musk’s xAI remains, playing out in product names and domain registries as much as in the courtroom.