Ownership, liability, patentability, and creativity issues in artificial intelligence

While Artificial Intelligence technologies find increasing use in different industries such as transportation, healthcare and other services, it gives rise to legal complexities in respect of ownership and liability of AI, patentability of AI inventions, and creativity & ownership of AI-generated works attributable to various components of AI. The autonomous decision-making ability of AI challenges the existing IP framework. Since AI machines can “think” and “act” without any human effort, if any damage or harm occurs to the properties, does the current model of tort liability (product liability, negligence, strict liability) adequately address the legal concerns? Robust regulatory bodies and institutional mechanisms are required to develop rigorous safety standards and establish safety certification processes for AI. Even though AI inventions can be patented, many jurisdictions recognize only a “human” as an inventor and not the AI. With the increasing capability of AI to generate works without human intervention, there seems to be a strong case for granting copyright protection to AI-generated works. Exploring a separate legal framework for AI to reduce ambiguity and increase accountability would be in order.