The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office within the Department of Commerce has released guidance on determining the patentability of an invention created with the assistance of artificial intelligence systems.
Kathi Vidal, undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the USPTO, said in a blog post published Monday that an AI-assisted invention is not categorically unpatentable but noted that a human must have a significant contribution to the invention for it to qualify for patent protection.
“Instead of considering whether or not the contributions of the AI system to an invention would rise to the same level of inventorship if those contributions were made by a human, the key question this guidance helps address is whether the human named on a patent made a significant enough contribution to be a named as an inventor,” Vidal explained.
“To secure patent protection, there must be at least one named human inventor who meets that requirement” she added.
The Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions took effect Tuesday and will serve as a guide for USPTO stakeholders and personnel on how the agency will analyze inventorship issues related to AI.
The guidance is the first in the USPTO directives outlined in President Biden’s executive order on the safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of AI.
Under the EO, the USPTO will provide additional guidance to patent examiners and applicants on AI innovation’s patent eligibility and issue recommendations on potential executive actions relating to copyright and AI.