Whether AI is a Person or Machine: An Analysis Under Patent Law

Abstract

For the first time in 1956, the word ‘Artificial intelligence’ was mentioned in the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence. Since then, it has taken a remarkable journey with more than 1.6 million AI-related scientific publications and nearly 3,40,000 patent applications for AI-related inventions.2 However, it was not before the AI DABUS case, that many people considered the prospects of Artificial intelligence as an inventor. It would be justified to state that inventors in patent applications mentioned AI’s role in the invention but before the AI DABUS case, as a rule, inventors after discussing the matter with their lawyers, used to show themselves as the main inventor and AI in supportive role, which was a smart decision, considering the existing law of Patent. With the change in technology and its application, it is necessary to address the issue. Many countries in the world have already started their journey toward legal implication of AI as an inventor but, in India our legislature has failed to address the issue on an earlier date and thus India started its journey in 2017, when India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry set up the 18-member Task Force on Artificial intelligence, with the mandate to advise inventors on the creation of a framework to promote and deploy Artificial intelligence, after taking all social and technological factors into account. After the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s first step, the NITI Aayog, an Indian government think tank, published a discussion paper called, ‘India’s National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence’3 which discussed global developments in Artificial intelligence and discussed the role of Artificial intelligence in the Indian society along with the challenges faced by it. However, it was highly concerning that such detailed discussion failed to address an essential aspect of AI, i.e., the legal implication of Artificial intelligence. In this research paper we will discuss the legal implication of Artificial intelligence with special reference to the AI DABUS case.