China is significantly ahead of other countries in terms of the number of patents in the field of generative artificial intelligence. This is reported by Reuters with reference to the UN report.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), more than 50,000 generative AI—related patent applications have been filed over the past decade, a quarter of them in 2023.
"This is a rapidly developing area that is growing at an increasingly rapid pace. We expect it to get even bigger," said Christopher Harrison, WIPO Patent Analytics Manager.From 2014 to 2023, China filed more than 38,000 applications for inventions in the field of generative AI, which is significantly higher than the second—place figure - the United States (6,276). This is followed by South Korea, Japan and India. The latter has become the leader in terms of growth rates.
Harrison noted that the Chinese documents cover a wide range of sectors, from autonomous driving to document management.
According to him, retailers and organizations are already actively using chatbots capable of imitating human speech to improve the customer service process.
Generative AI is capable of transforming other sectors of the economy, such as science, publishing and security, the expert added.
"Patent data suggests that this area will have a profound impact on many different industrial sectors in the future," Harrison said.In 2022, a U.S. court confirmed that artificial intelligence systems cannot patent inventions because they are not human.
Recall that in June 2024, China created an AI commander for military simulations.