The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued new guidelines on when AI-assisted inventions can be patented. The USPTO says generative AI should be treated like any other tool — similar to lab equipment or software — and only humans can be listed as inventors. A person can receive a patent if they conceived the invention under the traditional standard, even if AI helped. The office also rejected the previous administration’s approach that used joint-inventor rules for AI cases, stating that the same inventorship standard applies to all inventions. AI itself still cannot be considered an inventor under U.S. law.
Source: Reuters
