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18 May 2023FeaturesCopyrightTom Phillips

Vidal: ‘Responsible’ AI can make a positive difference

Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)  Kathi Vidal said “a day does not go by” without her department having multiple communications about artificial intelligence (AI).

With  OpenAI chief Sam Altman  questioned by US senators this week, the topic is front of mind for many within government, and the head of the world’s most influential IP office is no exception.

Speaking at the International Trademark Association’s  annual meeting in Singapore, Vidal said her department was working with the US  National Institute of Standards and Technology and the White House on the issue, which was “bigger than the USPTO”.

“We would love to use generative AI but we need to make sure it's responsible before we bring it to our door,” said Vidal, who added that she would “love” to see the technology implemented in the office’s trademark work, for example in image searches.

The annual meeting’s host country, Singapore, has offered such a system since September 2020.

Vidal said the USPTO has been working hard to modernise its trademark systems in readiness for technology such as AI, and it is holding sessions across the US under its  AI and Emerging Technology partnership.

INTA’s government relations head Jennifer Simmons, who quizzed Vidal in front of delegates, asked Vidal to qualify what ‘responsible’ AI looks like.

The USPTO chief said she believed the tech could make society, including its public bodies, fairer.

“There is an opportunity to ‘de-bias’ what we do. By using the right data sets, we can programme AI in a way that’s less biased than I think humans are,” said Vidal.

Vidal also expressed her concern over AI’s use of data. Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT store users’ inputs to help the system ‘learn’, raising privacy and trade secrets concerns.

“If you’re making filings at the USPTO and you expect that information to be kept confidential, you probably don’t want us feeding it into an AI system to become part of a broader data set,” added Vidal.

Anti-counterfeits focus

The former Winston & Strawn litigator also commented on the office’s anti-counterfeiting efforts, which she described as “catching up on all the piracy that’s going on”.

The office was working across many departments within government, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the Patent and Trademark Public Advisory Committees, which has a sub-committee dedicated to the issue.

“We need to be doing more across the board,” said Vidal. “We need to do more to keep people safe, whether it's fentanyl or products that explode or catch on fire, to protect all of our brands and businesses—it’s critical because the system won’t work if we can't figure out a way to deal with this.”

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7 October 2022   WIPR Diversity sat down with Kathi Vidal, director of the US Patent and Trademark Office, to talk about her bold plans to encourage more women into the field of patents, expand the bar and make the agency a great place to work.