Patent Law's Approach To AI: Finding The Way Forward

Artificial intelligence existed mostly as a theory for the first few decades after the term's coining at a 1956 Dartmouth University conference. But since the late 1990s, AI advances have come in leaps and bounds. From the perspective of international patent law, we must consider how ownership of AI-driven inventions is designated and protected - and whether the technology itself should be credited as a creator.

An unanswered question in the U.S.

In the U.S., Title 35 U.S. Code § 101 outlines which parties have the permission to seek patent application:

• The law's "inventions patentable" term defines authorship thusly: "Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor."