Supreme Court rules that AI cannot be named as the inventor in patent dispute, UK News reports

According to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court, artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be considered an inventor eligible for patent rights, as the law currently specifies that “an inventor must be a person”.

This decision comes after a lengthy patent dispute involving an American technologist who claims that an AI system he created, called DABUS, should be recognized as the inventor of a food and drink container and a light beacon.

Despite attempts to patent these inventions and list the AI system as the inventor, the technologist’s case has been rejected by both the US and UK courts, with the most recent decision being the final rejection by the UK’s Supreme Court.

The court unanimously concluded that only a “natural person” can be considered an inventor under the Patents Act, and that the technologist had not made a sufficient case for why he should be able to apply for a patent on behalf of the AI.

The ruling does not address whether the AI actually created the inventions, but rather focuses solely on the question of whether AI can be considered an inventor under the Patents Act of 1977.

As AI continues to play an increasingly prominent role in creation and invention, these types of disputes are likely to become more common, raising questions for policymakers about whether the existing laws adequately account for the nature of today’s inventions and the role of technology.