South Africa Grants Patent To An Artificial Intelligence System:
South Africa, first time in the world, has granted a patent to an ‘artificial intelligence system’ relating to a “food container based on fractal geometry” innovation.
- The innovation involves interlocking food containers that are easy for robots to grasp and stack.
- The patent has been given to an artificial intelligence (AI) system (called DABUS); not a human being.
- DABUS stands for “device for the autonomous bootstrapping of unified sentience”.
- It is an AI system created by Stephen Thaler, a pioneer in the field of AI and programming.
- The system simulates human brainstorming and creates new inventions.
- DABUS is a particular type of AI, often referred to as “creativity machines” because they are capable of independent and complex functioning.
- Creativity machines can process and critically analyse data, learning from it.
- This process is known as machine learning.
- Once the machine learning phase has occurred, the machine is able to “autonomously” create without human intervention.
- The patent application listing DABUS as the inventor was filed in patent offices around the world, including the U.S., Europe, Australia, and South Africa.
- The United States Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office rejected these applications in the formal examination phase.
