InventorBot: Using AI to Generate New Ideas in Any Field
How a neural network trained on the US Patent Database can produce new and possibly useful inventions.
In July 2019, an inventor named Stephen Thaler filed for a patent for a warning beacon that flashes in a special way to get people’s attention. On the patent application form, Thaler listed himself as the applicant and the assignee but not the inventor. Who invented this improved beacon? A better question is what invented this improved beacon?
The answer is DABUS, which stands for “Device Autonomously Bootstrapping Uniform Sensibility” [1]. This is a neural network that Thaler created and trained to invent things. (Brief side note: the improved beacon, in turn, uses a neural network to attract the attention of humans [2]. DABUS seems to be following a bit of common advice for newbies, “write what you know”. 😃) The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) denied the patent because the inventor is not a person. Here’s what the USPTO said in their decision [3].
To the extent the petitioner argues that an “inventor” could be construed to cover machines, the patent statutes preclude such a broad interpretation. Title 35 of the United States Code consistently refers to inventors as natural persons. For example, 35 U.S.C. § 101 states…
