Stephen Thaler, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence and programming, developed the autonomous bootstrapping of unified sentience (DABUS), an AI system. It refers to a specific type of AI, often known as a creativity machine, since it can engage in individual and complex functions. Unlike Siri, the artificial intelligence of Apple's iPhone, the Artificial Intelligence here is not general-purpose.

An upcoming South African patent on a fractal-based food container seems fairly mundane at first glance. Robots can easily grasp and stack food containers with interlocking lids.

In addition to filing patent applications in the United States, Europe, Australia, and South Africa, DABUS is listed as the inventor of the patent. The patent was granted only by South Africa and Australia followed suit a few days later after a court judge approved.

However, intellectual property experts have reacted strongly to South Africa's decision. It has been described as a mistake, or as an oversight by the patent office. As a patent and AI scholar, Ryan Abbot suggested that the decision is supported by the government’s policy environment in recent years. This has aimed to increase innovation, and views technology as a way to achieve this.

Thaler built another artificial intelligence prior to DABUS, one which created sheet music and he attributed to the invention of the cross-bristle toothbrush. In the case of the cross-bristle design, the patent was granted, proving AI's capability to create patentable innovations. When Thaler submitted his inventorship claim, he listed himself as the inventor, not the AI.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office rejected these applications in the formal examination phase. They gave three reasons. First, their respective patent laws only provide for human inventors, not AI as indicated by the use of pronouns such as him and her in their text. Second, ideas, for the purposes of patents, require the element of mental conception something of which only a human mind is capable. Finally, inventorship comes with rights, which AI is not legally capable of possessing.

DABUS was granted a patent by the Companies, Intellectual Property Commission of South Africa and recognized as an inventor, much to the surprise of the international community. There has been no explanation of the reasons for this move.

This patent was published in July 2021 in the South African Patent Journal, with major news agencies including The Times reporting on the matter.

Phase I of the Intellectual Property Policy of the Republic of South Africa of 2018 was the first pertinent policy. This marked the beginning of the country's patent reform. There have since been three notable publications between 2019 and 2021: the Department of Science and Technology's White Paper on Science, Technology, and Innovation; the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution; and the proposed National Data and Cloud Policy under the Electronic Communications Act 36 of 2005.

Image source: The Hindu