The US Supreme Court’s decision to reject the bid for AI to be inventors on patents could have a ripple effect on UK productivity if the government fails to act.
In Washington DC last week, the US Supreme Court threw out computer scientist Stephen Thaler’s latest bid for AI to be recognised as the legal creator of two inventions. You might wonder why this matters, especially here in the UK.
The argument goes that to be competitive the UK needs to embrace AI and adjust patent law accordingly to serve its original purpose – which is to encourage and incentivise innovation and investment in innovation.
If you only reward companies that do innovation the old way, toiling away with reams of paper, prototypes and expensive tests and trials – and tell others they are cheating by using AI and don’t merit or need similar protection – you risk our ability to make breakthroughs that change lives....