As more inventors build artificial intelligence (AI) style programming into new products, systems, and processes, many are asking how patent law applies to those innovations. How patent law applies depends on the invention itself. Some inventions improve AI technology. Others use AI to perform a technical function inside a larger invention. Still others involve research or development work where AI helped generate, test, or refine ideas. In 2026, AI patent law centers on how U.S. patent law applies to these AI-related and AI-based inventions, especially when AI affects patentability or inventorship.
Jones IP Law helps inventors, entrepreneurs, startups, and technology companies identify what they have created, determine whether patent protection may apply, and prepare patent applications that accurately reflect the invention’s real technical contribution. Founder Michael Jones combines a background in mechanical engineering with more than a decade of intellectual property experience representing technologies ranging from machine learning systems and computer software to cloud-based innovations, digital asset platforms, robotic technologies, and medical devices. Whether you are developing AI technology itself or building AI into your next product, I can help you identify patentable innovations, prepare strong patent applications, and build an intellectual property strategy that supports your long-term business goals.
What Kind of AI and AI-Related Technologies Might You Want to Patent?
If the AI is the technology you are looking to patent, you may, for example, create a:
- New machine learning architecture,
- Training method,
- Inference technique,
- Model-compression process, or
- AI-specific hardware improvement.
You can also create an invention that uses AI as one part of a larger system where AI helps the invention perform its technical function. For example, a medical imaging platform may use AI to detect patterns in scans, a manufacturing system may use AI to adjust equipment settings, or a cybersecurity tool may use AI to identify unusual activity.
You may also use AI during research and development, to, for example:
- Analyze data,
- Propose design options,
- Test code,
- Identify compounds, or
- Optimize engineering choices.
Whether you can patent an AI invention depends on how that invention fits into the underlying patent law.
How Has the Government Refined AI Patent Law?
Federal patent law establishes the rules governing patents, which federal courts and the USPTO apply to specific contexts as they develop. As AI technologies have grown, the government has adapted. In terms of AI patents news, between 2024 and 2026, both the USPTO and the federal courts addressed recurring questions about AI-related inventions. Their work focused primarily on inventorship and how existing patent law applies when AI becomes part of the inventive process.
Between 2024 and 2026, the USPTO issued guidance explaining how patent examiners should evaluate inventions developed with AI assistance, while the federal courts clarified that only humans, not AI systems, can qualify as inventors under the Patent Act. During the same period, the USPTO also expanded its broader work on artificial intelligence through educational resources, requests for public comments, and its AI Strategy.
Together, these developments help answer two of the most important questions inventors face when developing AI-related technologies. First, when does an AI-related innovation qualify for patent protection? Second, who can qualify as an inventor when AI contributes to the inventive process? Understanding those developments provides the foundation for understanding how patent law applies to AI and AI-related innovations in 2026.
How Does Patent Law Apply to AI and AI-Related Innovations?
How do those developments affect inventors in practice? How does federal patent law apply to AI and related innovations in 2026? Federal law allows inventors to patent qualifying inventions. AI-related technologies raise questions about who can be an inventor, as well as whether an invention is patentable.
AI is a modern, evolving branch of software technology. Like other software technologies, AI includes several different kinds of technical work. Patent law applies differently depending on whether AI is the innovation you want to patent, one component of an invention, or a tool you use to create the invention.
When Can You Patent an Invention Involving AI?
You can often seek patent protection for an invention involving AI if the invention satisfies federal patent requirements. First, the innovation must be the type of thing that you can patent. Patent law protects inventions, but does not protect abstract ideas, mathematical concepts, or similar non-patentable subject matter.
An AI model, algorithm, or mathematical technique, standing alone, generally describes an idea or concept rather than a patentable invention. Patent protection generally requires a concrete invention that applies those concepts to achieve a technological result.
If you have an invention, it is patentable if it is:
- Useful—performs a practical function,
- Novel—differs from previously disclosed patents, and
- Non-obvious—is more than an expected variation of what already existed.
When evaluating whether an invention is novel, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) compares it to prior art, which includes:
- Earlier patents,
- Published applications,
- Publications,
- Public uses, and
- Other information showing what people already knew before the filing date.
If an innovation qualifies as an invention, is useful, novel, and non-obvious, you can typically patent it. Yet, AI-related inventions raise an additional question: Who is the inventor?
Who Can Qualify As an Inventor?
An inventor is a person who contributes to the conception of the claimed invention, meaning they participate in forming the definite idea of the invention that the patent claims protect.
Current U.S. law requires human inventors. An AI system cannot be an inventor on a U.S. patent application. When AI contributes to the development process, you may still patent an invention if one or more humans contributed the conceptions that the claimed invention relies on.
Talk to Jones IP Law About AI Patent Law
AI and patents intersect wherever inventors use AI to create technical value. Whether you are developing AI infrastructure, building AI into a product, or using AI to support research and development, you need a patent strategy that reflects how your invention actually works.
Jones IP Law helps inventors, startups, software developers, and technology companies protect innovations in Brooklyn and beyond. If you are developing AI-related technology in DUMBO, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Industry City, or another innovation hub, I can help you evaluate your invention, prepare a patent application, and build a long-term intellectual property strategy.
Legal References Used to Inform This Page
To ensure the accuracy and clarity of this page, we referenced official legal and other resources during the content development process:
- Thaler v. Vidal, 43 F.4th 1207 (Fed. Cir. 2022).
- USPTO, Revised Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions.
- USPTO, Patent Essentials.
