AI systems can't be named as the inventor of patents, UK's top court rules

Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that an artificial intelligence system can’t be registered as the inventor of a patent, denying machines the same status as humans

LONDON -- An artificial intelligence system can't be registered as the inventor of a patent, Britain's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a decision that denies machines the same status as humans.

The U.K.'s highest court concluded that “an inventor must be a person” to apply for patents under the current law.

The decision was the culmination of American technologist Stephen Thaler's long-running British legal battle to get his AI, dubbed DABUS, listed as the inventor of two patents.

Thaler claims DABUS autonomously created a food and drink container and a light beacon and that he’s entitled to rights over its inventions. Tribunals in the U.S. and the European Union have rejected similar applications by Thaler.

The U.K. Intellectual Property Office rejected Thaler's application in 2019, saying it's unable to officially register DABUS as the inventor because it’s not a person. After lower courts sided with the patent office, Thaler took his appeal to the Supreme Court, where a panel of judges unanimously dismissed the case.