INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW IN TIMES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: IS IT A MISNOMER TO CONSIDER THE BOT A POSSIBLE IP RIGHT HOLDER?

Abstract

Thinking of Artificial intelligence, a non-tech savvy person may start imagining scenes of those Sci-Fi movies where 'bots' are so capable that they become a threat to human existence and start taking over the world through their highly advanced intelligence that surpasses human intelligence. However, in reality we are not close to such an AI yet.

In the words of John Mc Karthy, the one who coined the term 'Artificial Intelligence' in 1956, AI is "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines". Still the question arises what exactly does one mean by the term 'intelligence' in the context of machines. Mc Karthy explains Intelligence as a computational part of the ability to achieve goals in the world. Varying kinds and degrees of intelligence occur in people, many animals and some machines. We don't have a concrete definition of this term which doesn't depend on relating it to human intelligence, simply because we can not yet characterize in general what kinds of computational procedures we want to call intelligent. As for human intelligence, we understand only some of its mechanisms and not all. This vagueness is attributed to the fact that cognitive sciences have not developed to the extent that exact human abilities could be determined.

According to the recent definitions, AI could be defined as a program that processes information   in such a manner that the result corresponds with an intelligent person's response to the similar input. A true AI may be recognized as possessing characteristics such as comprehending refined language, resolving new problems, learning through trial and error method. Such an AI has just started becoming a real phenomenon which has given rise to legal complexities regarding the proprietary of these machines and their creations. However, not all programs termed as AI possess such qualities. Scientists divide AIs into two broad categories- Artificial Narrow Intelligence (weak AI) and Artificial General Intelligence (strong AI). Weak AI is programmed extensively to merely mimic human intelligence, performing a narrow function. A well-known example is Siri. It works algorithmically in a limited spectrum. There's no consciousness or conscience involved. In these type of AIs, the programmer is in direct control of every output that may be generated. Clearly, such outputs cannot be assigned copyrights, beyond doubt, simply because these outputs fail to fulfill the legal criteria i.e. 'modicum of creativity' and 'original work of authorship' to acquire a copyright, or any other Intellectual Property right for that matter.