The patent—filed by an international team led by University of Surrey professor, Ryan Abbott—is for a food container based on fractal geometry. The inventor is an AI called DABUS (device for the autonomous bootstrapping of unified sentience).
Historically, only humans can be an inventor of a patent. However, the DABUS team, which has similar cases moving through UK, European, US and other court systems, argues the status quo is no longer fit for purpose.
Professor Adrian Hilton, director of Surrey University’s Institute for People-Centred AI, said: ‘This is a truly historic case that recognises the need to change how we attribute invention.
‘We are moving from an age in which invention was the preserve of people to an era where machines are capable of realising the inventive step, unleashing the potential of AI-generated inventions for the benefit of society.’
