Faking It by Toby Walsh

Author:Toby Walsh [Walsh, Toby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781743823361
Publisher: La Trobe University Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Gloves with a fractal gripping pattern sound to me like a simple but patentable idea. Indeed, a search of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s database identified no patent applications that contain ‘glove’ and ‘fractal’ in their abstract or claims. AI can, it seems, write patentable ideas, even if the large language models writing such patents don’t actually understand what they’re writing.

AI invention

It’s unfortunate that DABUS has captured the headlines when there are many other AI systems that have been used to help humans invent for decades now, and about which less dubious claims have been made. Indeed, you might argue that one of the these was the very first AI invention.

Artificial intelligence is a collection of different tools and technologies ranging from rule-based systems where knowledge is hand-coded, through systems like genetic algorithms where solutions are found through searching different combinations, to neural networks where knowledge is learned from data. In each of these subdisciplines of AI, we can see examples of AI systems that have been used to help invent.

In rule-based systems, one of the first AI systems that deserves consideration is Douglas Lenat’s groundbreaking system, EURISKO, developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s.13 EURISKO was applied to a number of domains, including chip design. EURISKO, which is Greek for ‘I discover’, invented several novel three-dimensional electronic circuits that were later fabricated. A provisional US patent application for one of the circuits was filed in 1980, but the application was abandoned in 1984 for reasons that are not public.

Moving on to genetic algorithms, one of the first successes was the use of genetic programming by John Koza in 1997 to evolve the design of a novel amplifier. Subsequently, Koza and colleagues used genetic programming to evolve fifteen previously patented electronic circuits.14 In 2002, a patent was filed for several improved process controllers that had been discovered using genetic programming.15 The patent was granted in 2005. Even though the patent makes no mention of a computer inventor, I suspect that this may have been the first AI patent ever granted.

One of my favourite AI inventions is a radio aerial. In 2003, genetic programming was used to evolve the design of an unusual antenna shaped like a mangled paper clip. The antenna was flown on NASA’s experimental Space Technology 5 (ST5) spacecraft.16 The computer-designed antenna performed better than a hand-designed model produced by the antenna contractor for the mission. I suspect this was the first AI invention in space!

Finally, moving to neural networks, Stephen Thaler filed a patent (US 5659666) in 1994 for the Imagination Engine, a neural network for stimulating creativity. In a later patent, he extended this to the boldly named Creativity Machine (US 7454388B2). Thaler used this system in the invention of the cross-bristle design for the Oral-B CrossAction Toothbrush launched in 1998. I suspect this may be the first consumer product invented with the aid of AI.

If a new toothbrush sounds a little too much like a better mousetrap, then what about a new

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