One Man’s Quest to Get an AI Machine a Patent Gathers Momentum

Ryan Abbott’s eight-year quest to put man and machine on a near-equal footing under international patent law is finally seeing positive results.

Recent decisions from South Africa and Australia that an artificial intelligence machine can be listed as inventor on a patent is putting greater pressure on the U.S. and Europe to resolve debates over what it means to be an inventor.

“We’re moving into a new paradigm where not only do people invent, people build artificial intelligence that can invent,” said Abbott, a University of Surrey law professor and author of the 2020 book, “The Reasonable Robot: Artificial ...