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7 June 2019CopyrightMax Oker-Blom

ECTA: The implications of AI for IP

There are many characterisations of artificial intelligence (AI), such as Andrew Ng’s in the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) report on Technology Trends 2019 regarding AI.

Ng talks about AI being “automation on steroids” or “the new electricity”. He adds: “I can hardly imagine an industry which is not going to be transformed by AI.”

Precise definitions, however, are lacking. In order to come to grips with the term it is recommended to distinguish between AI techniques, such as machine learning, logic programming, fuzzy logic, probabilistic reasoning and ontology engineering, functional applications, and AI application fields.

Computer vision, natural language processing and speech processing can be mentioned as examples of AI functional applications. The application fields are several, such as networks, life and medical sciences, telecommunications and transportation.

The relationship between AI and rights, particularly IP rights, flows, of course, in both directions. On the one hand, the recent rapid development of AI raises questions about possible legal protection against AI, such as with respect to employment and automation with the help of robots, and on the other, whether new IP-legal rules will be detrimental and not create any additional incentives beside the existing ones. I will focus on the latter issue.

First, a brief description of the development of AI and the evolution of AI patent applications and scientific publications as mentioned in WIPO’s recent publication.

Developments

The term AI was coined more than half a century ago, in 1956, at a conference in Dartmouth, US. During the 25 years that followed, some effort was put into logic-based problem-solving approaches. Since these efforts did not result in any breakthroughs, AI experienced its first ‘winter’ during the following five or so years.

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