Generative AI patents lead by China

The UN announced on Wednesday that the inventors of China have filed the majority of international patent applications for innovations using generative artificial intelligence, which has increased eightfold since 2017. A quarter of the 54,000 patents filed for generative AI innovations over the past decade were filed last year, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). WIPO Director Daren Tang described GenAI as a revolutionary technology that has seen rapid growth worldwide.

Discovered at the end of 2022, generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI, includes technologies like ChatGPT, which has been around since 2017. These computer programs are fed and trained by billions of data points, allowing them to create text, video, music, and code in just seconds. Although GenAI patents represent only 6% of all AI patents globally, the number of applications is growing rapidly. This technology is driving the development of new industrial and consumer products, such as chatbots and molecular design for drug development.

China has shown great vitality in the field, with over 38,000 GenAI patents filed between 2014 and 2023, compared to the United States with 6,276. South Korea, Japan, and India follow in the number of patents filed. Chinese companies like Tencent and Ping An Insurance lead the way, with IBM being the top-ranking American company. WIPO notes that most patents are for image-related inventions, but sectors like molecules, proteins, and genes are also growing rapidly.

WIPO Director General Daren Tang emphasized the importance of keeping humans at the center of the innovation ecosystem with such revolutionary technology. Tang acknowledged potential dangers, such as job losses and intellectual property infringements, and stressed the need for balance to ensure human creativity is not undermined. The report provides insight into current trends and future projections in the field of generative artificial intelligence.