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Only real people can patent inventions – not AI, US Government says

cnn.com

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Re: Only real people can patent inventions – not AI, US Government says

#41

Post by bdowling »

Delumine wrote: post #26
KoolKat23 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misunderstand it, you can use AI or whatever as a tool but the patent must be applied for under your name with you as the creator.

I don't see a reason why anyone would want to patent their invention under an LLM though

This announcement was prompted in part by an AI activist named Stephen Thaler (referenced in the article), who sued for AIs to be recognized as inventors and authors. His goal was to give certain moral rights to AIs.

At the time, that seemed mostly harmless. Now, however, the idea of giving rights to AIs seems like a bad idea.

Re: Only real people can patent inventions – not AI, US Government says

#42

Post by choxi »

pfdietz wrote: post #2

AI could, however, poison the well for human patents, by making inventions and putting them into public view. Let's have LLMs churn out millions of discoveries, stick them on a public web site, then use that as a resource to kill other patents.

Has anyone tried doing that without LLMs? Could you make a GitHub repo under MIT license and just let people add a list of ideas to serve as prior art?

Re: Only real people can patent inventions – not AI, US Government says

#43

Post by bee_rider »

pfdietz wrote: post #2

AI could, however, poison the well for human patents, by making inventions and putting them into public view. Let's have LLMs churn out millions of discoveries, stick them on a public web site, then use that as a resource to kill other patents.

Somebody tried to copyright all the melodies already.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxepzw/musicians-algorithmic...

I have no idea if it worked and I’m surprised if it did.

Re: Only real people can patent inventions – not AI, US Government says

#44

Post by nerdponx »

pfdietz wrote: post #2

AI could, however, poison the well for human patents, by making inventions and putting them into public view. Let's have LLMs churn out millions of discoveries, stick them on a public web site, then use that as a resource to kill other patents.

The focus on AI having "agency" is a distraction from the issue you describe, which I think is much more interesting and relevant to society.

To what extent is the output of a generative model patentable or copyrightable? Do we need to refine our distinction between "invention" and "discovery"?

Re: Only real people can patent inventions – not AI, US Government says

#45

Post by caymanjim »

This is utterly meaningless. Use an AI to invent something, write down what the AI invented, slap your name on it. Patent. Not only is it unenforceable, it's stupid. Using tools is part of inventing.

This is nothing but political theatre prompted by fear.

I too fear AI, and think it will make us all obsolete in my lifetime, but that doesn't justify meaningless rulings like this.

Re: Only real people can patent inventions – not AI, US Government says

#47

Post by raincole »

caymanjim wrote: post #45

This is utterly meaningless. Use an AI to invent something, write down what the AI invented, slap your name on it. Patent. Not only is it unenforceable, it's stupid. Using tools is part of inventing. This is nothing but political theatre prompted by fear. I too fear AI, and think it will make us all obsolete in my lifetime, but that doesn't justify meaningless rulings like this.

You misread it completely.

It's nothing about stopping you from using AI as a tool.

Re: Only real people can patent inventions – not AI, US Government says

#48

Post by mc32 »

caymanjim wrote: post #45

This is utterly meaningless. Use an AI to invent something, write down what the AI invented, slap your name on it. Patent. Not only is it unenforceable, it's stupid. Using tools is part of inventing. This is nothing but political theatre prompted by fear. I too fear AI, and think it will make us all obsolete in my lifetime, but that doesn't justify meaningless rulings like this.

The patent can’t be granted to an AI. You can use whatever you want to create an invention you make claim on.

Re: Only real people can patent inventions – not AI, US Government says

#49

Post by swatcoder »

caymanjim wrote: post #45

This is utterly meaningless. Use an AI to invent something, write down what the AI invented, slap your name on it. Patent. Not only is it unenforceable, it's stupid. Using tools is part of inventing. This is nothing but political theatre prompted by fear. I too fear AI, and think it will make us all obsolete in my lifetime, but that doesn't justify meaningless rulings like this.

That's exactly the point. Generative AI systems are tool, not an entity suitable to fulfill the responsibilities of ownership and credit.

It's not fear or theater, it's just a boring and appropriate bureaucratic determination.

Re: Only real people can patent inventions – not AI, US Government says

#50

Post by gowld »

bdowling wrote: post #41
Delumine wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see a reason why anyone would want to patent their invention under an LLM though

This announcement was prompted in part by an AI activist named Stephen Thaler (referenced in the article), who sued for AIs to be recognized as inventors and authors. His goal was to give certain moral rights to AIs. At the time, that seemed mostly harmless. Now, however, the idea of giving rights to AIs seems like a bad idea.

Why bad idea?
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