The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has raised some interesting legal issues. One such issue is whether the AI itself can be the ‘inventor’ of a patented invention in Australia. The recent decision of the Commissioner of Patents of Stephen L. Thaler [2021] APO 5 (Thaler) explores what it means to be an inventor. This was done to determine whether a “Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience” (DABUS) – an artificial intelligence machine developed from what is known as “Creativity Machine” technology can be named as an inventor for the purpose of an Australian patent application. [Read more…]