The artificial intelligence has a growing interference in the current technological market and has an increasing range of implementation. But AI is no longer a technology meant to be a simple piece of a product, service or structure, it is also capable of inventing things on its own. The problem is that in many countries you cannot register patents in your name , and that is what happens now in the United States.
According to Bloomberg, US law does not recognize artificial intelligence as an inventor because it considers that inventors can only be human . In this way, a new chapter is added to a novel that takes on global dimensions. This is due to the logical differences between the laws of different countries, as well as the great ignorance about the technological innovations generated through AI, and how to act before them.
The dilemma is back in the news after the most recent ruling by Leonie Brinkema, a United States District Judge in Alexandria, Virginia. According to its ruling, before a patent application federal law requires that an “individual” swear that he is the inventor . But since the legal definition of “individual” is that of a natural person, artificial intelligence does not enter into this consideration.
Artificial intelligence may eventually reach a level of sophistication that can satisfy the accepted meanings of the inventor. But that time has not yet come, and if it does, it will be up to Congress to decide how, if it wants to, expand the scope of patent law.
Leonie Brinkema, United States District Judge
US federal law does not recognize artificial intelligence as an inventor
Photo by Hitesh Choudhary on Unsplash In this way, then, justice gives the first slap to The Artificial Inventor Project in the United States. It is an initiative spearheaded by Ryan Abbott, a law professor at the University of Surrey. It seeks to recognize as an inventor a computer built specifically to carry out inventions through the use of artificial intelligence .
The device in question is called DABUS and it is the same device that made the news in August after being officially recognized as an inventor in Australia and South Africa. According to Stephen Thaler, its creator, the machine uses machine learning to invent products by itself.
Despite Judge Brinkema's ruling, the members of The Artificial Inventor Project will not sit idly by. “We do not agree with the ruling and plan to appeal it. We believe that including an AI as an inventor is consistent with both the language and the purpose of the Patent Law,” said Abbott.
