On 30 October 2023, US President Biden issued an executive order relating to the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.

As part of the executive order, President Biden ordered the USPTO to publish updated guidance within 120 days relating to inventorship and the use of AI, including examples in which AI systems play different roles in inventive processes and how, in each example, inventorship issues ought to be analyzed.

The executive order also addresses the use of AI in copyright. The executive order requires that recommendations for further executive actions addressing the scope of protection for works produced using AI and the treatment of copyrighted works in AI training be provided to President Biden within the later of 270 days from the date of the executive order, and 180 days from publication of the upcoming United States Copyright Office AI Study.

Consequently, the existing US patent rules relating to the use of AI during the inventive process may change in the coming months, and the intersection of AI and copyright may be clarified in the US in 2024.

Click here to read the full executive order.