The Horror: Using an AI Tool to Help You “Invent” and Claiming You’re the Inventor for the Parts it “Invented”
With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-assisted inventions, the rules around inventorship are more crucial than ever.
- The Rule (per Updated USPTO Guidance, November 2025): Only natural persons (human beings) can be inventors or joint inventors on U.S. patent applications.
- The Tool: AI systems, including generative AI, are explicitly treated as tools by patent law, like laboratory equipment or software. They may assist in the inventive process, but they cannot legally conceive the invention.
- The Fatalities:
- Rejection. Applications listing an AI system or other non-natural “person” as an inventor will be rejected under 35 U.S.C. §§ 101 and 115. If you’re claiming priority to a foreign application, there must be at least one human in common with that application and your application.
- Invalidation. While the USPTO examiners may not look into which parts were invented by a human and which were created by AI, if a dispute over the patent ever arises, you can bet opposing counsel will look into it to try to prove the patent is unenforceable or invalid.
Actionable Takeaway
Always document the human-driven conception: how the natural person selected, specified, and integrated the AI-identified features into the claimed solution. It’s important to keep good notes about your inventive process no matter what, but if you’re using AI to help you, document that and how you had it assist you! Print/download your AI use history/conversations for your records.
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you’re a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand and business, you need to know how to use it. You don’t have to face the darkness alone, though.
I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I’m an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, but I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If you’d like to consult with me, please book a consultation online at kingpatentlaw.com or by calling my office at 312-596-2222 or 217-714-8558.
Please check out the other posts and pages on my website for more information on intellectual property and business law issues. I’m also on most major podcast platforms as “Know Your Rights: Your Intellectual Property and Business Law Playbook” (video on YouTube, Spotify, and Substack only) and on most social media as @kingpatentlaw.
