Artificial Intelligence (AI) is experiencing an unprecedented boom, driven by its ability to take on new functionalities. This versatility allows AI to be incorporated into more areas of everyday life, from technology and science to health, entertainment, and especially in the development of new computer applications.
The rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)
One of the most promising applications of AI is Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), which leverages the most sophisticated advances in AI to create content such as text, images, music, voiceovers, and even source code.
Since the introduction of Deep Neural Network Architecture in 2017, Large Language Models (LLM) have accelerated the development of GenAI, causing a notable impact on Industrial and Intellectual Property.
According to the latest report from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), patents AI, specifically in the field of GenAI, has seen spectacular growth. Over 25% of all existing GenAI patents were filed by 2023, with an 800% increase in applications since 2017.
In 2014, only 733 patent families related to GenAI were filed. By 2023, that number had exceeded 14,000. Furthermore, scientific publications on GenAI have followed a similar trend, increasing from 116 in 2014 to over 34,000 in 2023.
Table 1: GenAI patents and scientific articles by year.
Source WIPO (2024). “Generative Artificial Intelligence. “Patent Landscape Report”
China leads the way in Generative AI patent developments
The country that has developed this technology the most is China: it has filed 38.000 patent families between 2014 and 2023. In fact, since 2017, China has been publishing more patent applications every year. license, than all other countries combined.
They are followed by the United States (almost 6.300 patent families), South Korea (4.200), Japan (3.400) and India (1.350), as shown in the table:
Table 2: GenAI Patent Families filed, based on the nationality of the inventors.
Source WIPO (2024) “Generative Artificial Intelligence. “Patent Landscape Report”
GenAI's top patent holders and their applications
Major Generative AI patent holders include giants such as Tencent, Ping An Insurance, Baidu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, IBM, Alibaba Group, Samsung Electronics, Alphabet/Google, ByteDance and Microsoft.
These players have launched significant developments, such as IBM's Watsonx, a GenAI platform focused on data security, and DeepMind's Gemini, which Alphabet/Google is integrating into its products.
Microsoft is also gaining ground following its investment in OpenAI, which has begun to present patent applications.
The main applications of GenAI are found in sectors such as software, life sciences, document management, enterprise solutions, industry, manufacturing, transportation, security and telecommunications. The most prominent models, in terms of AI patents, include Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) and decoder-based LLMs.
The Role of Intellectual Property in the GenAI Revolution
Generative Artificial Intelligence represents a technological revolution comparable to, or even superior to, that of the Internet and smartphones. As this technology advances, the challenges also increase, and Industrial and Intellectual Property becomes an essential pillar to protect the interests of creators and companies.
In summary, the rise of AI patents, especially in the GenAI space, underlines the importance of being alert to the new opportunities and challenges that this technology brings with it. Intellectual Property professionals will play a crucial role in this exciting and complex landscape.
Juan de Justo, European Agent of the Patent Area by ELZABURU
