An obsession with computer vision shows the lopsided nature of the AI boom

A new report on global AI patents and publications has offered an interesting snapshot of the current boom--including the uneven way it is being commercialized. Run the numbers: The report (pdf) from the World Intellectual Property Organization shows that since the field of AI was established in the 1950s, 340,000 AI-related inventions have been patented and over 1.6 million scientific papers published. Unsurprisingly, the data shows that interest in AI has exploded in the past five years and that China and the US are dominant in the technology. IBM was the company that owned the most patents. Tunnel vision: The figures also show the disproportionate attention going to one application of AI.