The UN report states that between 2014-2023, China-based inventors filed over 38,000 GenAI patents, which is six times more than the number of patents filed by inventors in the United States, who came in second place.
GenAI, also known as Generative AI, enables users to create various types of content such as text, images, music, and software code, and is used in a wide range of industrial and consumer products, including popular chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Baidu’s ERNIE.
WIPO Director General, Daren Tang, describes GenAI as a revolutionary technology that has the potential to transform the way we live and work.
According to the WIPO Report, the number of GenAI patents has increased by more than 800% since the introduction of the deep neural network architecture in 2017, showing the rapid growth and potential of this technology.
Tang also mentions that by analyzing patenting trends and data, the agency aims to provide a better understanding of where GenAI is being developed and where it is headed, in order to help policymakers shape its development for the benefit of all.
The report reveals that currently, GenAI patents make up 6% of all AI patents globally, with the top ten applicants being Tencent, Ping An Insurance, Baidu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, IBM, Alibaba Group, Samsung Electronics, Alphabet, ByteDance, and Microsoft.
In terms of location, China leads with 38,210 GenAI inventions, followed by the US, Republic of Korea, Japan, and India.
Image and video data dominate GenAI patents, followed by text and speech or music. The report also notes a significant growth in patents using molecule, gene, and protein-based data in the past five years.