U.S. IP Reform Needed to Prepare for AI Era

The newly emerging technologies are vastly different from technologies of the past. AI provides computers the ability to learn on their own and make decisions that have traditionally required human intelligence. And when combined with other emerging technologies, its power will be truly dramatic. Quantum computers, for example, which are based on the behavior of energy and materials on the atomic and subatomic levels, can be millions of times faster than current classical computers. Just imagine military equipment driven by artificial intelligence and operated by quantum computers. The country that gains the lead in these technologies will enjoy towering national security advantages, including in economic and military power.

For the United States to maintain its technological edge, we must encourage Americans to make more discoveries in AI and other emerging technologies. This in turn requires providing strong intellectual property (IP) rights to incentivize and protect the huge investments required to make those discoveries. China's President Xi Jinping recognizes the critical role IP plays in innovation and ultimately national security, and has underscored its importance to new fields such as big data, artificial intelligence and genetic technology. The irony is that China relentlessly steals IP from the United States, while simultaneously working to strengthen its own IP system. China now reliably issues patents on cutting-edge technologies, provides injunctions for infringement of patented inventions, and has created specialty IP courts with procedures and rules similar to those of Western courts. China's AI patenting has increased dramatically in the past few years and is distributed broadly across its companies, government organizations, and universities, while U.S. patenting on AI comes mostly from large companies. On the international stage, China uses its IP policies to attract innovation to its borders and influence the adoption of its technologies as global standards.