Defending The Natural Person: Why AI- Generated Outputs Should Remain Unpatentable
Samiksha Shah, BA LLB, Mumbai University
Sankalp Mirani, LLM, GNLU Silvassa
ABSTRACT
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in creating new technical products has presented a new set of difficulties for patent eligibility. In line with recent decisions of courts and patent guidelines, which have set that patentable inventions must be those of a natural person, this paper supports this standard. We believe that patents cannot be granted for AI outputs and we do not wish to see the AI itself as inventors, but instead, human thought as the foundation for what can be patented. This paper does not enter into philosophical discussions, but rather takes a pragmatic and consequence- oriented perspective to explore the practical implications of AI patentability.
Patent flooding, or a mass of low cost, AI-generated patents, would result in patent thickets and thus increase the level of non-obviousness, we argue, leading to a chaotic situation. Inventive human minds, with limited mental resources and time, would never be able to outpace the speed at which generative algorithms can compute. Such change would inevitably squelch the creativity of people in creation of new ideas, discourage investment in research and development, and create an unequal, hyper-competitive environment for those who have the resources to run the largest computer.
Finally, we conclude that the natural person requirement continues to be an essential structural protection for the IP system. The patent system is a social compact that values the work of humans and the investment of capital and time resources; it's not a social compact when the output is so simple that it can be algorithmically generated and the capital required for investment comes from the public sector. A "creators first" approach to patent eligibility creates a fair and balanced innovation environment. This method works against anti-competitive concentration of the market; maintains the public domain; and ultimately safeguards long-term economic growth.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, AI, Research and development, R&D, Inventorship
