For leaders of artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives at the USPTO, success hinges on one guiding principle: cross-disciplinary collaboration.
This comes from this week’s Clause 8 guests, Jerry Ma, Director of Emerging Technologies and Chief AI Officer, and Charles Kim, Deputy Commissioner for Patents. Together, the two co-lead a group working on AI efforts and according to Jerry are focused on “a human first vision for AI at the agency.”
In the episode, host Eli Mazour explores how Jerry and Charles led USPTO’s efforts to deal with AI advancements on the policy front & leverage AI technology to improve USPTO’s own operations before ChatGPT was even a thing. The two leaders come from diverse backgrounds—Jerry with deep experience in Silicon Valley’s tech sector, and Charles with decades of IP and regulatory expertise at the USPTO.
Selected Topics
Start of USPTO’s AI working group, originally co-chaired by Charles Kim and Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart, to tackle §101/patent eligibility issues related to AI
Expansion of AI working group to coordinate AI related activities across the USPTO, including exploring leveraging AI technology for patent examination
Jerry Ma’s story of joining the USPTO from Silicon Valley to be Director of Emerging Technologies and taking on role as co-chair of working group
How AI implementation at the USPTO relies on cross-disciplinary teams drawing expertise from law, technology, and policy
Working groups’ efforts to engage with outside stakeholders through the AI/ET Partnership Series to create informed policies around AI and patent eligibility
USPTO’s guidance on (1) use of AI-based tools, (2) AI-assisted inventions, and (3) AI subject matter eligibility and responses to related push-back
USPTO’s current use of AI technology & future plans to further leverage AI technology to empower examiners
Role of AI working group as AI becomes widely used within USPTO
Advice for other organizations exploring implementation of AI
Notable, Quotable
On the USPTO’s AI Guidance
“If there is information that's material to patentability, there is a duty to disclose that information. But the use of AI tools by itself is not something that we're requiring in terms of disclosing the use of those tools.” - Charles Kim
On cross-collaboration at the USPTO
"There's an underlying humility that none of us know all the answers…these areas are just too complex for any individual or any individual skill set to be able to tackle alone." – Jerry Ma
“There's a truly cross-disciplinary effort between folks on the technology side, folks on the policy and examination side, everything in between, to figure out how can we get the substance right." - Jerry Ma
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