AI as an inventor — What sparked it and where are we today?

 


Artificial Intelligence (AI) is present in every field today, from art to music to finance to medicine. However, there is still resistance to AI being officially recognized as an inventor. Let's take a closer look at the latest developments concerning this topic.

Inventions created with the help of AI over the last 4 years

1.      DABUS

Stephen Thaler filed 2 European patent applications in 2018, which he said DABUS (Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience), an AI system, had invented. The DABUS case questioned traditional patent laws of inventorship. According to University of Surrey law professor and author Ryan Abbott, “We’re moving into a new paradigm where not only do people invent, people build artificial intelligence that can invent.”

In 2019, USPTO rejected the patent applications saying that only humans can be recognized as inventors under the Patent Act. Between 2018 and 2019, Thaler filed patent applications in other major patent offices such as the European Patent Office (EPO), United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), and IP Australia as well, but got rejected again for the same reason. However in 2021, the South African Patent Office agreed to list the AI machine DABUS as an inventor. This is putting pressure on the US and Europe to re-assess their decision on the matter.

2.      Halicin:

In 2020, a machine learning algorithm at MIT helped researchers in developing a potent antibiotic, Halicin, which is effective against many pathogens. The computer model screened millions of chemical compounds to pick out potential antibiotics that kill bacteria using different mechanisms than those of existing drugs. Therefore, AI played a vital role in developing this drug.

Although they haven’t filed a patent for it yet, researchers say that it is a promising way of using computational methods to discover and predict the properties of potential drugs.

The future of AI as a patent inventor

The fact that AI will be involved in numerous inventions within a few years is posing a threat to patent systems. Well-defined decisions regarding AI as an inventor are the need of the hour, especially because its’ market is projected to grow at a rate of 35-36% in the next 5 years (2022-2027).

Granting patents for AI-generated inventions will drive national innovation potential and economic growth. Additionally, it will encourage professionals who develop and use AI as it helps in creating valuable and life-saving inventions.

Currently, courts are wrestling with the problem of AI as an inventor, particularly because patent applications listing it as an inventor have been filed in more than 100 countries. 

Read the full blog post here to learn more about AI and inventorship.


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