IBM owns largest AI patent portfolio: WIPO
American technology company IBM holds the largest artificial intelligence (AI) patent portfolio, with China and the US being the leading countries in this area, according to a new report from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The report, published today, January 31, revealed that IBM has the largest AI patent portfolio of any company, with 8,290 patent applications. Microsoft came in second, with 5,930.
Chinese research institutions, meanwhile, are by far the most active in AI development. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is the 17th largest filer overall, while in the rankings of academic institutions, 17 of the top 20 are based in China.
AI patenting by Chinese academies has grown between 20% and 60% annually, the report said.
“The US and China obviously have stolen a lead. They’re out in front in this area, in terms of numbers of applications, and in scientific publications,” WIPO director-general Francis Gurry told reporters at a press conference today, according to Reuters.
The most patented AI application was computer vision, with 19 of the top 20 patents relating to this field.
Of the top 20 companies, 12 are based in Japan, including tech firms Toshiba, Fujitsu and Panasonic.
AI acquisition has proved a significant factor in contributing to the largest patent portfolios, the report said. Of the top 20 companies, seven have acquired AI companies.
Google parent company Alphabet has acquired 18 such companies, the most of any firm featured in the report, “while at the same time reducing its patent filing activity over the last several years”.
Boi Faltings of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne research institute in Switzerland, and contributor to the report, said that the “most critical thing” necessary to bring AI from research to market would be to force corporations to share access to their data on fair terms.
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