US Sets New Rules for Patents Involving AI

In guidance released Wednesday and scheduled for publication on Friday, USPTO Director John Squires emphasized that generative AI should be treated similarly to longstanding research tools such as laboratory equipment and software. Per Reuters, the notice states that these systems “may provide services and generate ideas, but they remain tools used by the human inventor who conceived the claimed invention.” The agency also wrote: “When one natural person is involved in creating an invention with the assistance of AI, the inquiry is whether that person conceived the invention under the traditional conception standard.”

The USPTO reiterated that AI itself cannot be named as an inventor under U.S. law, echoing its earlier position that only human beings can hold that designation, according to Reuters.

Related: Anthropic’s Discovery of Autonomous AI Espionage Raises Legal and Regulatory Questions

The guidance also moves away from a previous approach used under former President Joe Biden’s administration. That earlier method relied on standards typically applied to determine whether multiple individuals qualify as joint inventors. Instead, the updated framework makes clear that all inventions — whether involving AI or not — are subject to the same inventorship rules. “The same legal standard for determining inventorship applies to all inventions, regardless of whether AI systems were used in the inventive process,” the notice said on Wednesday. “There is no separate or modified standard for AI-assisted inventions.”