US Patent Office: AI Cannot Be Named as Sole Inventor, Human Contribution Still Required
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The US Patent Office has declared that only natural persons (humans) can be awarded patents, not AI systems. AI can assist in inventions but cannot be named as the inventor.
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At least one human inventor must be named on a patent who made a significant contribution to the invention. Simply owning or overseeing an AI system used to create an invention is not enough.
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The guidance explains what constitutes a "significant contribution" from a human inventor when AI is involved, like constructing a specific prompt to elicit a particular solution.
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The guidance aims to apply existing legal precedent on inventorship to AI without attempting to define or limit AI itself.
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If laws change to allow AI to hold intellectual property rights, the Patent Office would revise its policy, but currently AI is treated as software lacking legal personhood.