China has filed the highest number of patents related to generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) compared to any other country, according to a recent report from the United Nations' (UN) intellectual property agency.
China Leads in Generative AI Patent Applications Worldwide
The UN's World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) report highlights a major surge in international patent filings for GenAI innovations, marking an eightfold increase over the past six years.
In the decade leading up to 2023, a total of 54,000 patents were filed worldwide for GenAI technologies, underscoring the rapid pace of innovation in this field. Notably, a quarter of these filings occurred in the most recent year alone, reflecting the accelerating momentum behind GenAI research and development.
China stands out prominently in this landscape, accounting for most of the GenAI patent filings compared to other leading countries such as the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and India.
Chinese inventors have filed over 38,000 patents in GenAI technologies between 2014 and 2023, showcasing their dominance and engagement in advancing artificial intelligence applications.
GenAI encompasses a wide array of applications, including creating text, images, music, and computer code, which power various industrial and consumer products.
These technologies drive innovations in sectors ranging from life sciences and manufacturing to transportation and telecommunications, indicating their impact across diverse industries.
The WIPO report also highlights the significant contributions of major Chinese technology firms and research institutions to the GenAI patent landscape. Companies like Tencent, Ping An Insurance, and Baidu lead the pack with substantial numbers of patent filings.
Furthermore, the report reveals a growing trend towards integrating GenAI with data types such as image, video, text, and speech/music. This diversification underscores the versatility of GenAI applications, enabling its use in areas as varied as document management, retail assistance systems, customer service chatbots, and autonomous driving technologies.
WIPO aims to provide insights into this rapidly advancing technology's development and future directions by analyzing patenting trends and data.
The Future of Generative AI
WIPO Director General Daren Tang expressed confidence that the report will enable innovators, researchers, and others to effectively navigate the dynamic landscape of generative AI and its global impact. The UN highlighted that generative AI could accelerate drug development in the future by aiding in the design of new molecules.
Additionally, it could automate document management and publishing tasks, expand its role in retail assistance and customer service chatbots, and facilitate product design and optimization innovation, including applications for autonomous driving and public transportation.
WIPO's insights into global patent trends aim to provide stakeholders with valuable data to navigate and shape the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence innovation.
"This can help policymakers shape the development of GenAI for our common benefit and to ensure that we continue to put the human being at the center of our innovation and creative ecosystems," Tang said in a statement.
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