LONDON: The Supreme Court of Britain has ruled that an artificial intelligence system cannot be registered as the inventor of a patent. The decision was made on Dec 20 and represents a denial of the same legal status to machines as is granted to humans.
The highest court in the UK stated that “an inventor must be a person” in order to apply for patents under the current law.
This decision comes after American technologist Stephen Thaler’s lengthy legal battle to get his AI, named DABUS, listed as the inventor of two patents.
Thaler asserts that DABUS autonomously created a food and drink container as well as a light beacon, and that he should have rights over its creations. However, applications by Thaler for similar patents have been rejected by tribunals in the United States and the European Union.
The UK’s Intellectual Property Office rejected Thaler’s application in 2019, citing its inability to officially register DABUS as the inventor due to its lack of personhood. After lower courts sided with the patent office, Thaler took his appeal to the Supreme Court, where a group of judges unanimously dismissed the case.
The judges stated that DABUS is “not a person, let alone a natural person, and it did not devise any relevant invention.”
Legal experts have noted that this case highlights the lag in Britain’s laws keeping up with technological advancements, and have called for a policy update in light of the impressive recent developments in artificial intelligence. These developments are exemplified by generative AI systems such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which can rapidly generate new poems, songs, and computer code.
“As AI systems continue to advance in sophistication and capability, there is no denying their ability to generate new and non-obvious products and processes with minimal, or perhaps even without any, ongoing human input,” said Nick White, a partner at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys.
“Change may be on the horizon, but it will most likely come from the policymakers, rather than the judges,” he said. – AP
