Photo credit: The Byteline (AI-generated)

China is significantly outpacing other countries in filing patents for generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies like chatbots, according to a new report from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Generative AI, which creates new content, such as text, images, music, or code, is witnessing explosive growth. In 2023 alone, more than 14,000 patent families were filed, an over 800% increase from 733 in 2014, according to data from WIPO, the United Nation’s global agency for intellectual property.

A patent family is a set of patents taken out in different countries to protect a single invention.

Last year saw a surge in generative AI activity, with over 34,000 scientific publications and more than a quarter of all GenAI patents filed that year.

Chinese inventors have dominated patent filings for generative AI, accumulating over 38,000 patent families between 2014 and 2023, the report said. Since 2017, China has surpassed the combined total of all other countries each year in this field.

In comparison, the United States ranks second, having filed around 6,300 patent families between 2014 and 2023. Other key research hubs for GenAI include the Asian countries of South Korea, Japan, and India, all ranking in the top five globally.

Chinese firms Tencent (technology), Ping An Insurance Group (finance), and Baidu (technology) lead the top patent applicants list, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the sole research organization in this group.

E-commerce giant Alibaba and Bytedance, owner of TikTok, also feature in the top 10. Meanwhile, IBM, Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, lead the US in generative AI patent applications.

Increasing patent filings come as proponents continue to push for generative AI to enhance products, services, and processes and boost content creation and productivity. A McKinsey study projects that GenAI could contribute between $2.6 trillion and $4.4 trillion annually across various sectors, with banking, high-tech, and life sciences expected to benefit the most.

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