Artificial intelligence (AI) has recently exploded onto the scene as a technology that will redefine the next technological age. It is estimated that 38 percent of all businesses are implementing AI in one form or another, and that adoption rate is expected to grow to 62 percent in 2018. See “Artificial Intelligence Collides with Patent Law”, World Economic Forum White Paper (April 2018). Similarly, global revenue from AI-based systems is expected to grow from nearly $8 billion in 2016 to more than $47 billion in 2020. See Bloomberg Law, “2017 Outlook IP, Privacy, Tech and Telecom,” Daily Report for Executives (2016).

The rise in capital investment on AI-based technologies has driven a similar increase in global intellectual property rights investment. From 2012 to 2017, the USPTO saw a 500 percent increase in the number of patents issuing to class 706—a classification exclusively designated for AI. See “Intellectual Property Protection for Artificial Intelligence”, Westlaw Journal Intellectual Property (Aug. 30, 2017).