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For the first time in years, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is accepting applications for new top-level domains. ICANN has announced 1,615 applications, opening a new round of proposals for the suffixes that appear at the end of URLs.
Many people know top-level domains through familiar examples such as .com and .org, while .pizza shows how varied these suffixes can be. The newly announced applications are not all approved domains; they are applications submitted to ICANN. The announcement marks a rare opportunity to seek a new top-level domain after years without an application period.
The applications have drawn attention because they include proposals tied to artificial intelligence, including .agent and .agi. Those names are part of a broader set of submissions, and their presence has prompted discussion about what the next generation of web addresses might look like. For now, ICANN’s announcement establishes the scale of the latest application round: 1,615 proposals for new endings to URLs.
The clearest signal in ICANN’s latest batch of top-level domain applications is the focus on AI: the newly proposed suffixes are all about artificial intelligence. Among them, .agent and .agi look especially likely to become popular new domains. Their appeal reflects the moment: AI is driving a wave of applications for web addresses, and these short labels connect directly to the technology behind that wave.
The proposals include names such as .free, .hot, .spot, and .you, but the AI theme gives .agent and .agi a distinct place in the group. The article describes them as candidates to be “the hot new domains,” while the wider set of applications points to growing interest in AI-focused internet identities. That does not mean the suffixes are already available or guaranteed to become widely used. It does suggest that applicants see potential in making AI visible in the addresses people use online.
For now, the applications offer a snapshot of where attention is concentrated. If .agent and .agi catch on, they could give AI-related sites a recognizable address ending, alongside familiar suffixes such as .com and .org.
Top-level domains are the suffixes at the ends of URLs. They are the final parts of a web address, following the rest of the URL, and may be familiar from everyday internet use. The examples include .com, .org, and .pizza—different endings that show how varied these suffixes can be.
For years, people have encountered top-level domains as a standard part of URLs, with .com and .org among the best-known examples. But the category is not limited to those familiar endings: .pizza is also a top-level domain. In other words, the letters after the final dot are not just incidental decoration; they are the URL’s suffix.
That matters when considering ICANN’s latest applications for new top-level domains. The applications concern possible additions to the endings people see at the ends of URLs. Thinking of .com, .org, and .pizza makes the basic idea clear: a top-level domain is the closing suffix of a web address, and different suffixes can appear there.
The new applications raise a familiar question in a different form: what does a URL mean anymore? A web address has long ended in a suffix such as .com or .org, but ICANN’s latest round points to a growing role for domain endings that describe a technology or community. Among the applications are .agent and .agi, alongside .ai, .llm, and .chat.
Those proposed endings could give people a quick clue about what a site is connected to. A URL ending in .agent might signal an AI agent, while .agi could point toward artificial general intelligence. But the applications are not the same as approved domains, and the article does not say what the eventual sites using them will contain. The names show what applicants want to make available, not a guarantee about the meaning or quality of any particular website.
For now, the notable shift is that URL suffixes are being proposed around AI concepts, not just familiar categories or brands. If these applications move forward, the address bar may offer new cues about how a site presents itself. The question is whether those cues will make URLs more informative—or simply give them another set of labels to interpret.
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