In 2023, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced that the inventors of China have filed the majority of international patent applications for innovations using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). This technology has seen rapid growth worldwide and has driven the development of new industrial and consumer products.
According to WIPO, over 38,000 GenAI patents were filed between 2014 and 2023 in China, compared to the United States with 6,276. South Korea, Japan, and India follow in the number of patents filed. Chinese companies like Tencent and Ping An Insurance lead the way in this field, with IBM being the top-ranking American company.
WIPO notes that most patents are for image-related inventions, but sectors like molecules, proteins, and genes are also growing rapidly. The report provides insight into current trends and future projections in the field of generative artificial intelligence.
Discovered at the end of 2022, GenAI includes technologies like ChatGPT, which has been around since 2017. These computer programs are fed and trained by billions of data points, allowing them to create text, video, music, and code in just seconds. Although GenAI patents represent only 6% of all AI patents globally, the number of applications is growing rapidly. This technology is driving the development of new industrial and consumer products such as chatbots and molecular design for drug development.
