The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) says that while artificial intelligence systems cannot be named as inventors, humans can use AI tools in the process of creating patented inventions and must disclose their use. claims.
The agency released the latest guidance after a series of “hearing” tours to gather public input. Although AI systems or other “non-natural persons” cannot be listed as inventors in patent applications, it states that “the use of an AI system by a natural person does not preclude the natural person’s status as an inventor.” Just as the USPTO requires all applicants to list all material information needed for decision-making, patent seekers will need to disclose whether they used AI in the course of their invention.
However, for a patent to be registered, the person using the AI must have made a significant contribution to the idea of the invention. A person who simply asks an AI system to create something and then supervises it is not an inventor, the report says. The agency says that a person who simply poses a problem to an AI system or “recognizes and evaluates” the result as a good invention cannot claim credit for the patent.
“However, important contributions can be made by ways of crafting prompts that take specific problems into account to elicit specific solutions from AI systems,” the USPTO said.
The agency also notes that “maintaining ‘intellectual control’ over an AI system does not in itself make one an inventor.” Therefore, simply supervising or owning an AI that produces something does not mean you can apply for a patent on that AI.
In 2020, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that only “natural persons” can apply for patents, after denying researcher Stephen Saylor’s petition. Thaler added his AI system, DABUS, which he created, as an inventor in the patent application. The US court upheld the Patent Office’s decision. Following a separate application by Saylor regarding AI-generated images, another federal court ruled that AI systems cannot be copyrighted.
The USPTO and the U.S. Copyright Office conducted a series of public consultations to develop new guidelines for the treatment of AI in patent and copyright applications.