• OpenAI has adopted the URL ‘chat.com’, which now redirects to ChatGPT.
• HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Shah previously owned the domain and paid more than $10 million.
• Analysts say this move strengthens OpenAI’s global reach and consumer products positioning.

OpenAI’s splashy acquisition of a four-letter domain name is a smart strategic play, branding experts told Business Insider.

On Wednesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted “chat.com” on social media, a URL that now automatically redirects to ChatGPT’s website.

The domain was previously owned by HubSpot founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah, who confirmed he sold the domain to OpenAI after purchasing it in 2023.

While Shah didn’t reveal the exact sales price, he previously said he “sold it for more than I paid.” In his Wednesday post, he hinted that he had received shares in OpenAI as a result of the transaction.

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

OpenAI could try to make ‘Chat’ the new ‘Google it’?

The latest addition to OpenAI’s domain collection, which also includes ‘chatGPT.com’ and possibly ‘ai.com’, suggests a brand shift to a broader consumer audience, brand experts told BI.

Margarita Polishchuk, head of strategy at Claya UI/UX design and branding agency with clients including Amazon and Google, said OpenAI is “securing and strengthening their position” with its new simplistic – and therefore stronger – domain name.

“It’s very memorable and super timely,” she told BI. “Strategically, I think purchasing a domain like this marks the shift to a very global audience for ChatGPT and OpenAI.”

While Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot are also sticking to one-word names, Gil Luria, an analyst at DA Davidson, said the domain is the “most intuitive name” for how consumers think about chatbots.

“I think the hint we’re getting from this is that they might want that productize their chat as a consumer product,” he said. The new domain “could be a very important asset in consumer adoption of a particular technology,” he added.

The new URL could also be the more practical result of a common language error. Nicole Ferry, chief strategy officer at Sullivan NYC, a brand engagement company, said she often notices people converting the letters from ChatGPT to “GTP.”

“’ChatGTP’ actually redirects to NinjaChat AI, which is clearly not OpenAI’s product,” she said. “So having chat.com is simply also an easier URL to use in a call to action.”

She also added that the company’s decision to focus on ‘chat’ instead of ‘GPT’ makes the product more accessible.

“It sounds easy,” she said. “I can do that. I chat with my friends on my phone or in DMS or whatever. It feels like something I can already do instead of something I have to learn.”

While “chat” has been part of the English lexicon to denote human interaction, Polishchuk notes that this marks the arrival of a “major technical shift” in the way people can perceive the term.

“So now any user who is not really tech savvy, when he types chat.com, he will immerse himself in the world of LLM and AI,” she said.

While people might not quite say, “Go ChatGPT it,” Polishchuk said acquiring a domain with just the word “chat” could allow the AI ​​to become similarly ubiquitous, like “Googling.”