Inventors from China are leading the world in filing patents for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), according to a new report by the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Between 2014 and 2023, China filed more than 38,000 GenAI patents, six times more than the United States, which ranks second.
This development was reported by Die Presse.
Surge in GenAI Patents
Generative AI, which creates content like text, images, music, and software code, is revolutionizing various industries and consumer products.
You may already be familiar with chatbots such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
"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 of the deep neural network architecture synonymous with GenAI in 2017, the number of GenAI patents has increased by more than 800 percent by 2023.
Future Development
The aim of WIPO's report is to show where GenAI technology is being developed and its future direction.
"By analyzing patenting trends and data, we hope to give everyone a better understanding of where this rapidly evolving technology is headed," Tang said.
"This can help policymakers shape the development of GenAI for our mutual benefit and ensure that we continue to put people at the center of our innovation and creativity ecosystems," he added.
China's Dominance
According to the report, GenAI patents now make up six percent of all AI patents globally.
The top ten patent applicants include Chinese companies such as Tencent (2,074 inventions), Ping An Insurance (1,564), Baidu (1,234), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (607).
Other notable applicants are IBM (601), Alibaba Group (571), Samsung Electronics (468), Alphabet (443), ByteDance (418), and Microsoft (377).
China's lead is clear with 38,210 GenAI inventions, compared to 6,276 from the United States, followed by the Republic of Korea (4,155), Japan (3,409), and India (1,350).
Focus Areas and Growth
Most GenAI patents are related to image and video data (17,996 inventions), text (13,494), and speech or music (13,480).
There has also been rapid growth in patents using data based on molecules, genes, and proteins, with 1,494 inventions since 2014 and an average annual growth rate of 78 percent over the past five years.
