Can Computer Systems Using Artificial Intelligence Patent their Own Inventions?

Increasingly, companies are using artificial intelligence to invent new methods and products. But can a named inventor be a non-human machine under the law? That depends on which country's laws are being applied. The question of whether a country's Patent Act requires an "inventor" to be a human being is a question of statutory construction. For example, in the U.S. the statute requires an application for patent be made "by the inventor…in writing to the Director."1