Patent Office to Focus on Human Contributions for AI Inventions

Analysis for whether an artificial intelligence-assisted invention is eligible for patent protection should focus on the contributions of a human, and whether they were significant enough to merit inventorship, according to new guidance issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The guidance, which will be effective Tuesday when it’s scheduled to be published in the Federal Register, is part of several steps the PTO is taking to assess AI’s role in, and impact on, intellectual property. The deadline for the inventorship guidance was set by President Joe Biden’s November executive order on AI.

In the new guidance, the ...