UK top court rules AI cannot be named as inventor in landmark patent case

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) – The UK Supreme Court has ruled that artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be legally named as an inventor to secure patent rights.

The judgment delivered on Wednesday establishes that "an inventor must be a person" after Stephen Thaler, a technologist, sought recognition for his AI, Dabus, as the inventor of a food container and a flashing light beacon.

In 2019, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) denied the request, asserting that only individuals could be acknowledged as inventors. Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal supported this decision.

The Supreme Court's five-member bench has now dismissed the attempt to overturn these rulings, stating that an inventor must be a person and that AI cannot be granted patent rights.

The judgment does not address whether Dabus actually invented the food container or the flashing light beacon.

Thaler, who views Dabus as a "conscious and sentient form of machine intelligence," has previously expressed concern that if AI inventions are not protected, numerous valuable innovations that benefit humanity may go unrecognized.

He suggested that this situation could encourage dishonesty and potentially criminal behavior, emphasizing that society likely does not want such outcomes.