That's pretty much how we see it. It's what .ai has become.
How you see it doesn't matter. Marketing is not about doing whatever you think is good and then telling your audience they're wrong when they interpret it differently. If someone sees .ai in your business name (and you're not based in Anguilla) then they're going to make some assumptions. In your case that assumption is that the "ai" part is just "marketing bullshit", and that will probably affect whether or not people give your product a fair try.
Agreed, the meaning of .ai domains isn't set by us.
Formally, .ai is a country domain. However, it's broader meaning is cultural - again, not set by us.
By popular usage .ai has become like .io, used informally as a startup domain. We're really just following that pattern.
Our users don't tell us they felt deceived by the pattern, they never even mention it as a concern. Instead, much concerned feedback is around data-privacy.
(I'm indulging this debate because debate is a fun part of HN. There's no negativity @onion2k; I hope you interpret it the same way).
Our domain doesn't really conjure many preconceptions for users to feel that deceived. The conceptions are really vague, more like subtle connotations than denotation.
If you arrive at the site thinking "there was a vague connotation of an ai startup. Instead this is a browser automation startup. I have been deceived!"...you would not be our intended user in the first place. Maybe you got us confused with another ai startup somewhere.
Our intended user would arrive expecting, and getting, no-code browser automation.
Further Edit:
I think this comes across more argumentative than I intended.
I just wanted to add that you make a point I understand and agree with; there's been a lot of hype about AI startups that aren't really AI. We aren't one of those, but maybe our domain makes us look like one!
By this particular rule of thumb am I still allowed to name my new beverage company mai-t.ai?
I mean I might think when I went to their site, huh, doesn't seem to be any AI, but they don't name AI, hah hah bet they couldn't get the domain name they wanted.
