IBM’s patent dominance in AI innovation

IFI CLAIMS, a leading platform for patent data analytics, recently released its list of the most AI patent filings by companies over the last five years. In this assessment, IBM has emerged as the frontrunner, outpacing its primary competitors, Google and Microsoft. As per IFI Claims’ data, IBM has filed 1,591 patent applications related to AI, surpassing major tech players, including Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Intel, and Adobe.

Indeed, the large number of IBM’s AI-related patent applications not only reflects the company’s research intensity but also its strategic focus on Generative AI, which accounts for 22% of its AI-related patents. And like those from Google and Samsung, IBM’s Generative AI patents are split between image, audio, text, and video. The company’s patents cover a wide range of applications, from machine learning algorithms to AI-driven healthcare solutions, reflecting its comprehensive approach to AI development. 

ChatGPT’s surprising ranking on the list

Despite OpenAI being an AI pioneer, it did not even make the top 25 of the list, with only one patent application registered by IFI CLAIMS. The very modest number of patent applications by OpenAI may reflect a strategic choice to focus on protecting its intellectual property through means other than patents, such as trade secrets or copyrights, which can offer protection without requiring disclosure. This approach would allow OpenAI to maintain a level of secrecy around certain innovations while still contributing to the broader AI community through open-source projects and collaborations.