The $17,000 Domain That Could Be Worth $70 Million Just Became an AI Chatbot Instead. People Are Asking “Why?”

Why.com sat dormant for nearly three decades. Its owners could have sold the domain for a fortune. Instead, they built a philosophical chatbot.

BY SAM BLUM, SENIOR WRITER @SAMMBLUM

Illustration: Inc; Photo: Adobe Stock

What would you do if you owned a web domain likely worth a small fortune? Would you sell it for a potential windfall? Or would you, like the most opportunistic founders in Silicon Valley, use it to get in on the AI gold rush?

In 1999, at the height of the dot com boom, Jason Magnus took a leave of absence from........

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