AI is not an inventor, UK Supreme Court rules

The UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously (5×0) that artificial intelligence cannot be inventors. At a hearing this Wednesday, the 20th, the lords of the court rejected a request to register two patents made by Stephen Thaler, who used an autonomous machine (read robot) to create applications.

The controversy began in October 2018 when Thaler filed two patents with the UK Patent Office. The following month, the comptroller denied the request for lack of notice of discovery and an indication of entitlement to the privilege, which takes 16 months from the application.

Thaler replied that the inventor was the creative AI DABUS and he got the right to the patent through the grant of this machine. Later, Thaler demanded an inquiry from the company. In December 2019, the hearing officer rejected the patent applications, stating that since DABUS was not a human being it could not be considered an inventor and only a human being could be an inventor under the Patents Act 1977.

Thaler appealed to the Supreme Court, which decided to uphold the decision of the regulator and hearing officer not to grant patents to the robot inventor. You can also listen to the full result in the video below in English here. Both in English.

Main image: Headquarters of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (Disclosure: Supreme Court UK)