According to the agency Patent Landscape ReportBetween 2014 and 2023, more than 38,000 GenAI patents came from China, six times more than the number of patents filed by inventors in the second-place United States.
GenAI, or Generative AI, allows users to create content such as text, images, music or software code. This content is used in a variety of industrial and consumer products, including chatbots such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Baidu’s ERNIE.
A game changer
“GenAI has emerged as a breakthrough technology with the potential to transform the way we work, live and play,” said Daren Tang, Director General of WIPO.
Since the introduction in 2017 of the deep neural network architecture now synonymous with GenAI, the number of GenAI patents has increased by more than 800 percent through 2023. according to the WIPO report.
The sharp increase in patent applications reflects recent technological advances and the potential of GenAI.
For our common good
The WIPO head added that by analyzing patent trends and data, the agency hopes to give everyone a better understanding of where this rapidly evolving technology is being developed and where it is going.
“This can help policymakers shape the development of GenAI for our common benefit and to ensure we continue to put humans at the center of our innovation and creative ecosystems,” he said.
Key findings of the report
According to the report, GenAI patents currently represent 6 percent of all AI patents worldwide.
The top ten applicants include Tencent (2,074 inventions), Ping An Insurance (1,564), Baidu (1,234), Chinese Academy of Sciences (607), IBM (601), Alibaba Group (571), Samsung Electronics (468), Alphabet (443), ByteDance (418) and Microsoft (377).
In terms of location, China (38,210 inventions) led the way, far behind the US (6,276 inventions), the Republic of Korea (4,155), Japan (3,409) and India (1,350).
Image and video data dominated GenAI patents (17,996 inventions), followed by text (13,494) and speech or music (13,480).
The number of GenAI patents using data based on molecules, genes and proteins grew rapidly (1,494 inventions since 2014), with an average annual growth rate of 78 percent over the past five years.
