AI cannot invent things, appeals court rules

Artificial intelligence (AI) cannot invent things and therefore cannot be the inventor of new patents, the UK Court of Appeal has ruled. Patents assign the ownership of a new invention to its creator and that the inventor must be a real human person under UK law.

At its core, the argument is about whether a law written for human inventors can be applied to machines. The appeal court ruled against Stephen Thaler who took a case against the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) which refused patents to his AI.

Earlier this month, Mr Thaler lost a similar case in the United States – although he has won in Australia and South Africa.

Read more on BBC.co.uk