Machines, artificial intelligence and IP departments

The ability of machines to perform tasks better than humans is not new. A simple calculator is able to process numbers far faster than most people, and with a 100% accuracy rate. It is this combination of speed and accuracy that makes it inevitable that many jobs which currently require human input will in time be done by machines. And as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more effective, even things which we assume require human input may also in time be done by machines.