Revised Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions (Implements Executive Order 14179)

In November 2025, a United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Alert was issued regarding revised inventorship guidance for AI-assisted inventions. In the notice, the USPTO pointed out that the office:

• Has rescinded the February 2024 guidance on this topic in its entirety and replaced it with the November 2025 guidance.
• Presumes that the inventors named on the application data sheet or oath/declaration are the actual, human-being inventors.
• Only human inventors may currently receive a patent under U.S. law.  AI is not a human inventor under U.S. law and therefore cannot receive a patent in the U.S. 

It is possible for an invention developed by one or more human inventors using AI-assistance to be patented. This possibility is highly fact-specific, and some of the relevant inquiries include:

• Did the inventor(s) have a definite and permanent idea of the complete and operative invention, as it is hereafter to be applied in practice?
• Did the inventor(s) have a specific, settled idea, a particular solution to the problem at hand and not just a general goal or research plan?
• Did the inventor(s) have knowledge of all the limitations of the claimed invention?
• Was the invention so “clearly defined in the inventor’s mind that only ordinary skill would be necessary to reduce the invention to practice, without extensive research or experimentation?”
• Could the inventor(s) describe the invention with particularity?                                                       

If the answer to any of the above inquiries is “no,” then the invention is not likely patentable.

This guidance applies to utility, design, and plant patent applications.

For a U.S. application claiming priority to a foreign application that names both a natural person(s) and a non-natural person (AI) as a joint inventor, the application data sheet accompanying the application filed in the United States must list only the natural person(s) identified as the inventor(s), including one in common with the foreign application.

For any application that lists an AI system or other non-natural person as an inventor or joint inventor, a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101 and 115 should be expected. If you have any questions, contact your Dinsmore attorney.