In terms of generative AI, China has applied for considerably more patents than any other nation, according to a U.N. intellectual property office report released on Wednesday. The United States is far behind.
The World Intellectual Property Organization stated that between 2010 and 2023, technology was connected to almost 54,000 inventions.
While technology has the ability to increase productivity and accelerate scientific discoveries, it also raises worries about jobs and labor.
Since generative AI shot to prominence in late 2022, more than a quarter of those inventions have been made, according to WIPO. This is evidence of the technology’s exponential growth and interest.
This unique, first-of-its-kind patent report attempts to monitor patent filings as a potential barometer of artificial intelligence trends.
It ignores artificial intelligence in general, which includes things like facial recognition and autonomous driving, and concentrates primarily on generative AI.
WIPO Director-General Daren Tang told reporters, “WIPO hopes to give everyone a better understanding of where this fast-evolving technology is being developed, and where it is headed.”
More than 38,200 innovations in generative AI originated in China in the ten years beginning in 2014.
Compared to the United States, which had roughly 6,300, that is six times greater. South Korea (4,155), Japan (more than 3,400), and India (1,350) were the next closest countries.
With the use of programs like Google Gemini, Baidu’s Ernie, ChatGPT from OpenAI, and Google Gemini, users can generate writing, photos, music, and other types of material.
Numerous industries, including the biological sciences, manufacturing, transportation, security, and telecommunications, have used the technology.
Some detractors worry that GenAI may eventually take the place of humans in some sorts of occupations or inappropriately appropriate human-generated content without paying creators fairly or adequately.
As with other categories of patent applications, GenAI patent number does not necessarily translate into quality, according to WIPO authorities.
It’s difficult to predict at this early stage of technology which patents will be valuable to the market or revolutionize society.
Tang remarked, “Let’s see how the data and the developments unfold over time.”
Although China and the United States are sometimes viewed as competitors in the development of artificial intelligence, American tech companies are really leading the globe in the creation of the most advanced AI systems.
Laptops 1000Research manager Nestor Maslej of Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence stated,
“Looking at patents just paints one part of a narrative,” adding that patent acceptance rates can vary depending on a nation’s legislation.
“When examining AI vibrancy, it’s crucial to know who is releasing the best models and where they are coming from.
Based on that metric, it appears that the United States is significantly ahead in the field,” said Maslej, who oversees Stanford’s yearly AI Index, which assesses the state of the technology.
In 2023, U.S.-based institutions produced sixty-one noteworthy machine-learning models, surpassing the 21 from the European Union and the 15 from China, as per the AI Index for this year. France had the most, eight, among the EU’s member states.
The United States also possesses the greatest number of “AI foundation models,” which include the enormous, adaptable, and extensively trained GPT-4 model from OpenAI, Claude 3 from Anthropic, and Llama from Meta.
While China has dominated in industrial robots, the United States has also outperformed China in terms of new AI startup formations and private AI investments.
