According to a new UK copyright consultation by the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO), artificial intelligences (AIs) are incapable of creating without human aid and should not be able to hold patents.
The consultation was created to advise the UK Government on how to deal with AI over patent and copyrights, seeking feedback from a variety of organisations, such as those in the business and academic world.
Most of the experts asked agreed that AI is a tool that cannot invent without substantial human involvement.
Utilising the power of AI
The UK AI Strategy, which was published last year, intends to make the country a giant in the technology across the next decade.
The proposal discusses the creation of extra AI R&D programmes, building a governance and regulation system, and advocating its execution.
In the new consultation, it is noted that AI could soon be producing things where the human contribution cannot be distinguished, and if AIs were given similar rights as people, they would be able to hold intellectual property.
Are they advanced enough?
Although many acknowledged that AI is not yet advanced enough to invent without human interference, there is a chance that they could invent independently in the future.
With IP laws assisting in protecting inventions and creators, they are important when safeguarding innovation across the UK’s economy.
In the IPO consultation, there were three areas covered for AI-produced or supported works.
The first was for computer-generated works (CGWs) created by computers without human help. Currently, these are covered in the UK for 50 years, as are human-generated works.
The second was text and data mining (TDM), where computers examine data to detect patterns, a crucial method for training AIs.
Regardless of its use in generating copyrighted works, the trends discovered through TDM are not currently protected. Moreover, it is an infringement to draw from copyrighted data sources, except if authorised.
Lastly, the IPO studied AI-developed innovations. Because most experts agreed that AI is not yet advanced enough to invent without human involvement, it was advised that no changes be made to UK patent law.
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