Did Elon Musk outbid OpenAI in the great AI.com domain showdown?

Elon Musk's X.ai may have purchased or leased the AI.com domain, which was previously linked to OpenAI's ChatGPT. It's now linked to xAI, Musk's nascent AI organization with the goal of "understanding the true nature of the universe," which has yet to show anything substantial.

It's unclear why the switch happened; whether it was a bidding war or a change of heart remains unknown. The most likely scenario seems to be that the domain owner sold the redirect first to OpenAI and now to xAI. It doesn't seem to have been sold to OpenAI in the first place, because it's rather unlikely that OpenAI would sell the domain to Elon Musk's company, given the history of Musk and OpenAI.