US Patent Office Issues New Guidelines For AI-Assisted Inventions (reuters.com)
(Thursday November 27, 2025 @09:30PM (msmash)
from the finding-the-right-balance dept.)
- Reference: 0180227183
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/11/28/0037205/us-patent-office-issues-new-guidelines-for-ai-assisted-inventions
- Source link: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-patent-office-issues-new-guidelines-ai-assisted-inventions-2025-11-26/
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued new guidelines outlining [1]when inventions created with the help of AI can be patented . From a report:
> USPTO Director John Squires said on Wednesday in a notice set to be published Friday, that the office considers generative AI systems to be "analogous to laboratory equipment, computer software, research databases, or any other tool that assists in the inventive process."
>
> "They may provide services and generate ideas, but they remain tools used by the human inventor who conceived the claimed invention," the office said. "When one natural person is involved in creating an invention with the assistance of AI, the inquiry is whether that person conceived the invention under the traditional conception standard."
>
> The office reiterated its guidance from last year that AI itself cannot be considered an inventor under U.S. patent law. However, it rejected the approach taken by the PTO during former President Joe Biden's administration for deciding when AI-assisted inventions are patentable, which relied on a standard normally used to determine when multiple people can qualify as joint inventors.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-patent-office-issues-new-guidelines-ai-assisted-inventions-2025-11-26/
> USPTO Director John Squires said on Wednesday in a notice set to be published Friday, that the office considers generative AI systems to be "analogous to laboratory equipment, computer software, research databases, or any other tool that assists in the inventive process."
>
> "They may provide services and generate ideas, but they remain tools used by the human inventor who conceived the claimed invention," the office said. "When one natural person is involved in creating an invention with the assistance of AI, the inquiry is whether that person conceived the invention under the traditional conception standard."
>
> The office reiterated its guidance from last year that AI itself cannot be considered an inventor under U.S. patent law. However, it rejected the approach taken by the PTO during former President Joe Biden's administration for deciding when AI-assisted inventions are patentable, which relied on a standard normally used to determine when multiple people can qualify as joint inventors.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-patent-office-issues-new-guidelines-ai-assisted-inventions-2025-11-26/
Umm, what about theft? (Score:2)
by TechyImmigrant ( 175943 )
When the AI steals the ideas of others and presents it as a new idea to the AI user, it's still theft and the inventor is the original inventor and the ideas were on the open internet to be scraped by the AI and so is prior art.
No creativity, talent or specific knowlege require (Score:2)
No creativity or talent or specific knowledge required.
Whoever has the "biggest computer" can lock up all of human progress and collect rents for it into the future.
Somehow I don't think this is what the patent system was intended to accomplish.
Just like excessive copyright terms, patents have become a roadblock on the road to progress.