I recently had the privilege to speak at the 21st Annual Symposium on Intellectual Property Law and Policy I was on a panel with IP professionals from Patterson+Sheridan and Navid Alipour from Analytic Ventures. I gave a brief introduction to AI and machine learning to set the stage for our panel discussion for the non-technical audience, and then I described some of the challenges I see with patents in the AI and ML space based on my many years of writing and reviewing patent materials. AI at IP at UA Law has a more detailed summary of our panel.

The Alice decision has greatly confused what is and isn’t patent eligible, and that definitely impacts patents around AI and ML. The Honorable Andrei Iancu, Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, described his thoughts and actions to improve the situation, but the fundamental problem can only be solved by Congress and the Courts. Let’s hope they take meaningful action soon, so developer’s expensive investments AI and ML can be protected (if they so choose).

In any case, I tried to do my part to help educate those IP professionals that may be in a position to actually influence the future.