More patents related to generative artificial intelligence have been filed from China every year since 2017 than from the entire rest of the world, the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reported in Geneva on Wednesday.
With generative AI, users can produce texts, images and other content based on training data. Examples include AI applications such as ChatGPT or Gemini.
According to the WIPO, companies and institutes from China have registered more than 38,000 patents in the field of generative AI in the 10 years up to 2023.
Far behind was the United States with 6,300, followed by South Korea, Japan and India. The UK was in fifth place with 714, closely followed by Germany with 708, which, according to the WIPO, has registered more patents than the UK in recent years.
The development of patent applications worldwide also shows that the field is booming: according to the WIPO, there were 54,000 patent applications in the field of generative AI between 2014 and 2023, but more than a quarter of these were filed in the past year alone.
"[Generative] AI has emerged as a game-changing technology with the potential to transform the way we work, live and play," said WIPO Director General Daren Tang.