We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Can artificial intelligence (AI) be legally listed as an inventor? After all, if AI can legally invent products, the number of patents on drug-discovery tools will shoot up fast. The issue is currently before a United States court. The U.S. Court of Appeals heard arguments on that question again last week, and the ruling could affect the pace of AI technology development, particularly within the pharmaceutical and life science industries.

Over the past decade, work on autonomous vehicles has become a major focus for automakers around the world. Much of this work has involved humans training autonomous vehicles on how to drive. GM looks to flip that script, however, patenting a design for an autonomous vehicle system intended to teach human students how to drive, as reported by Motor1. While many think of autonomous vehicles as supplanting human drivers entirely, GM sees the issue differently. It notes in the patent filing that humans may wish to drive for pleasure, or may need to take over from an autonomous vehicle in areas or situations where such systems may not be allowed to drive or be capable of doing so.

Like a heat mirage shimmering over the road ahead, Apple's much-awaited contribution to the electric car market has been teasing us from the horizon since rumours of its development first emerged back in late 2014. Despite having the potential to be the California-based firm's biggest project yet, both figuratively and literally, precious little has been officially revealed about the plans for the Apple Car. Nevertheless, signs of development are abound, from the firm's apparent ongoing tests of self-driving software around Cupertino via a fleet of sensor-laden Lexus SUVs to the filing of an assortment of suggestive patents. Based on these, experts have anticipated what the Apple Car could look like and the revolutionary features it might sport, from a customisable touchscreen dashboard to a Siri-like'intelligent automated assistant'. Brought to life by artists with the UK car leasing firm Vanarama, the gorgeous mock-up has the sleek, minimalist lines that make Apple's tech offerings so distinctive, down to the glowing Apple logo on the radiator grille.

A new artificial intelligence (AI) platform monitors vital signs of employees when they look at their smartphone to see if they're sick. Binah Teams, created by Israeli company Binah, comes in the form of an application for smartphones, as well as tablets, laptops and desktops. Once installed, an employee, student or any other team member just has to look at their device's camera for the AI to determine vital signs like heart rate, oxygen saturation and respiratory rate in a couple of minutes. The results could help a business remotely determine'with medical grade accuracy' if a team member really is ill, although employees couldn't legally be forced to use it. The company stresses that its application'does not save images or input video streams used for measurement' to assuage privacy concerns.

The need to automate business processes to improve efficiency and control costs is fueling the surge in artificial intelligence (AI) patent filings by tech giants and enterprises, says GlobalData. Tech incumbents with deep pockets are poaching top AI talent from universities to develop practical applications. Samsung filed the highest number of AI patents beating technology giants in the top 10 list, followed by Alphabet's Google, Intel, IBM and Microsoft. The Korean company is expanding its research scope around AI technologies focused on improving lifestyles. Nearly one-fourth of the patents filed by Alphabet were from AI startups like DeepMind, Waymo and Verily, which emphasizes the acquisition spree of AI startups by tech giants.

A new plan by Amazon to use artificial intelligence (AI) to dub films could spell the end for voiceover actors. The technology giant has patented a system that would see computers learn the voices of Hollywood stars such as Tom Cruise by studying their films. Amazon's computer systems could then automatically generate foreign language versions without any need for voiceover actors to dub the audio. The company used the example of "The Last Samurai" as an example use of the technology in its patent filing. By analysing how Cruise sounds in other films such as "Mission Impossible" and "Rain Man," Amazon could recreate his lines from "The Last Samurai" in French or Polish while still sounding recognisable.

Songwriters of global hits getting sued for alleged plagiarism has become a recurrent story on MBW these past few years – and a recurrent source of misery for writers and their representatives in the industry. But what if a songwriter or composer were able to use AI technology to avoid litigation altogether, by finding out if their song copies elements of other compositions, potentially in real time? That could now be a reality, thanks to a Spotify invention revealed in a new European patent filing from the company obtained by MBW. According to a document published last week, Daniel Ek's company is seeking a patent for its "Plagiarism Risk Detector And Interface" technology, which pertains to "Methods, systems and computer program products..for testing a lead sheet for plagiarism". As explained in the filing – and as our songwriter/musician readers will already know – a'lead sheet' is a type of music score or musical notation for songs denoting their melody, chords and sometimes lyrics or additional notes.

The World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) first report of a series called WIPO Technology Trends, an extensive study of patent applications and other scientific documents, offers clues to the next big thing in AI. Rather than treating'AI' as a single homogeneous discipline (see our guide to AI terminology), the WIPO report divides it into AI techniques, AI functional applications and AI application fields, offering a finer-grained analysis. AI techniques are advanced forms of statistical and mathematical models used in AI, including machine learning, logic programming, ontology engineering, probabilistic reasoning and fuzzy logic. Machine learning is included in more than one third of all identified inventions and represents 89 per cent of AI filings, the report finds. Between 2013 and 2016, filings related to deep learning rocketed by about 175 per cent.

By Amit Aggarwal The modern era of innovation and scientific growth has been largely led by the rise of the machine age. The successful incorporation of automation capabilities with basic human intelligence has resulted in what is termed as "Artificial Intelligence". Artificial Intelligence is used in almost every field today ranging from automated vehicles, healthcare, aviation, finance, entertainment, education, heavy industries and so on. With each passing day, machines with higher and higher capabilities of learning and autonomous thinking are being conceived and implemented. AI has the potential to challenge the core standards that are edifice of Patent law.

Patents are filed in China for international protection of inventions under PCT route after domestic patent filing. The first patent application is filed in home country to secure a patent priority date. Thereafter, within 12 months of the priority date, a PCT international phase application is filed with the WIPO. The PCT international patent application provides a time period of almost 30 to 31 months from the priority date to file the same patent application in multiple countries, including, India, China, Singapore, and the like. China and India amended their patent laws to fulfill the obligation of TRIPS agreement.