U.S.-based tech giant IBM leads by the number of patent applications (8,290), followed by Microsoft (5,930), Japan’s Toshiba (5,223) and South Korea’s Samsung (5,102).
The recent report WIPO Technology Trends 2019: Artificial Intelligence has revealed that China is leading in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), which has witnessed an upsurge in patent applications in recent years.
It includes a ranking of the global institutions that have filed the most patent applications for AI inventions.
Chinese organizations make up 17 of the top 20 academic players in AI patenting, as well as 10 of the top 20 in AI-related scientific publications.The AI patents filed by Chinese organizations grew 20 percent annually on average between 2013 and 2016.
China and the US are the two most popular offices for filing AI patents, followed by Japan. Together, these three offices account for 78 percent of total patent filings.
U.S.-based tech giant IBM leads by the number of patent applications (8,290), followed by Microsoft (5,930), Japan’s Toshiba (5,223) and South Korea’s Samsung (5,102).12 Japan-based companies are in the top 20 along with three U.S.-based companies, two from South Korea, two from Germany, and one from China.
Applications for AI patents surge
As per the report,nearly 340,000 AI-related inventions have been filed for patents since the emergence of the technology during the 1950s.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said that Patenting activity in the artificial intelligence realm is rising at a rapid pace, meaning they can expect a very significant number of new AI-based products, applications, and techniques that will alter our daily lives.
At present,patent applications for machine learning dominates the field. Filings of machine learning-related patents increased with an annual average growth rate of 28 per cent between 2013 to 2016.
The report has also predicted that AI will grow with “major military and economic” uses in the coming years.
