AI and invention
How do AI and invention interact?
What is invention?
Invention is one process of generating intellectual property. Specifically, inventions are a form of intellectual property that can be described in text format and that can be differentiated from any pre-existing intellectual property (prior art) through unique claims that are made about them. The text describing and differentiating an invention that is accepted is a patent. For an example of a patent see this one that gave Coevolve IT expertise about patents.
Other intellectual property
Not all intellectual property can be described as a patent (is patentable). Although the limits depend on which intellectual property office is managing applications, generally anything that can be described as a recipe or a mathematical formula is not patentable. This is where other forms of intellectual property such as copyright become relevant. Copyright has a long history of application to writing, art and design.
Where does AI come in?
AI is attracting a lot of attention because of the use of text-based Large Language Models (LLMs) that respond to people’s text prompts. Related AI models have been trained on images and can produce image outputs based on text prompts or a combination of text and image prompts. While these have created many novel opportunities for human users (and for the companies releasing them), they have created problems for intellectual property. This is because the AI models need to be trained on large amounts of data before they can operate as observed.
Problems with AI
Do the companies offering these AI services own all the data they used to train their models? At present, it appears not, although that is the subject of court cases in the United States, and the changing environment of AI governance in Europe and the UK as well as elsewhere may have an impact on that.
Where to learn more
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) is holding a Conversation on Generative AI and IP on 20th and 21st September 2023. This can be accessed remotely. See also earlier news on AI and patents. Because we are familiar with the requirements of responsible AI we can advise you on the intellectual property implications of your AI project.
For more information, get in touch.
A reel of cable attached to a machine.
Photo by Osman Talha Dikyar on Unsplash