Artificial intelligence cannot be an “inventor” of patents
Artificial intelligence cannot be an “inventor” of patents. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came to this decision. This was reported by Reuters.
In the UK, American scientist Steven Thaler wanted to register two patents that he claimed were invented by his AI-powered “creativity machine” DABUS.
The UK Intellectual Property Office refused the scientist’s request, after which he appealed to the Supreme Court, but he was unsuccessful there as well.
In both cases, the refusal was justified by the fact that the inventor of patents cannot be artificial intelligence, it must be a real person.
“The case was not concerned with the broader question whether technical advances generated by machines acting autonomously and powered by AI should be patentable. It also does not address the question of whether the meaning of the term “inventor” should be expanded… to include artificial intelligence-powered machines that create new and non-obvious products and processes that can be considered to offer advantages over products and processes that are already known,” said Judge David Kitchin in a written ruling.
The day before, Steven Thaler had appealed to the US Supreme Court, but he was also denied there.