ARTICLE · 16 AUGUST 2021

Patents: Inventors Can Be Inhuman

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First we heard that a South African patent for an invention that lists artificial intelligence as its inventor had been issued, a world first.

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"We are both created and create. Why cannot our own creations also create?"

What a week

First we heard that a South African patent for an invention that lists artificial intelligence ("AI") as its inventor had been issued, a world first. Then we heard that an Australian court had handed down a judgment allowing AI to be listed as the inventor of a corresponding patent in Australia.

The Australian judgment, Stephen Thaler and Commissioner of Patents, delivered by Judge Beach, is technical yet very readable.

The applicant and the inventor

The applicant for the patent is Dr Stephen Thaler. The inventor, however, is listed as an AI system described as "a device for the autonomous bootstrapping of unified sentience (DABUS)." Dr Thaler owns the copyright in the source code for DABUS and the computer on which DABUS operates.

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