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Submission to World Intellectual Property Organization on IP & AI

August 6, 2020

Full paper in PDF formDownload

Based on insights from the Montreal AI Ethics Institute (MAIEI) staff and supplemented by workshop contributions from the AI Ethics community convened by MAIEI on July 5, 2020.

Intro

This document posits that, at best, a tenuous case can be made for providing AI exclusive IP over their “inventions”. Furthermore, IP protections for AI are unlikely to confer the benefit of  ensuring regulatory compliance. Rather, IP protections for AI “inventors” present a host of negative externalities and obscures the fact that the genuine inventor, deserving of IP, is the human agent. This document will conclude by recommending strategies for WIPO to bring IP law into the 21st century, enabling it to productively account for AI “inventions”.

Full paper in PDF formDownload
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  • © 2025 MONTREAL AI ETHICS INSTITUTE.
  • This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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