VOA科学技术2024--UN Agency: China Leading AI Patents Race

Recent United Nations data shows that China is ahead of other countries in filing patents for generative artificial intelligence (or GenAI) inventions.

China has filed six times more patents than the United States.

Generative AI produces text, images, computer code and even music from existing information. Generative AI is growing quickly with more than 50,000 patent applications filed in the past ten years, the World Intellectual Property Organization (or WIPO) says.

WIPO is a UN agency that oversees¹ a system for countries to share recognition of patents. Around 25 percent of the patent applications were filed in 2023 alone, WIPO said.

"This is an area that is growing at increasing speed. And it's somewhere that we expect to grow even more," WIPO's Christopher Harrison told reporters recently.

China filed more than 38,000 GenAI inventions between 2014-2023. In comparison, the United States filed 6,276 over the same period, WIPO said.

Harrison said the Chinese patent applications covered several areas from autonomous² driving to publishing to document management.

South Korea, Japan and India placed third, fourth and fifth respectively, with India growing at the fastest rate, the data showed.

Among the top applicants³ were China's ByteDance - which owns the video application TikTok - Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group, and Microsoft, a backer of OpenAI which created ChatGPT.

WIPO's Harrison said while chatbots with the ability to copy human communication are already being widely used to improve customer service, GenAI could change industries like science, publishing, transportation or security. For example, Harrison said data suggests GenAI-created molecules⁴ might help speed up drug development.

WIPO said it expects even more patents to be filed soon. And the agency plans to release a future update of the data, possibly using generative AI.

Words in This Story

patent -- n. a document that gives a person or company the right to be the only one that makes or sells a product for an amount of time

generative -- adj. describes using artificial intelligence algorithms to create complete units of content

application - n. a formal, written request for something

autonomous - adj. acting⁵ separately from other people or things

chatbot -- n. a program designed to chat with human beings

1 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

2 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

3 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

4 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。