US Supreme Court rejects computer scientist's lawsuit over AI-generated inventions

FILE PHOTO: A TV camera points to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., February 21, 2023 REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge by computer scientist Stephen Thaler to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's refusal to issue patents for inventions his artificial intelligence system created.

The justices turned away Thaler's appeal of a lower court's ruling that patents can be issued only to human inventors and that his AI system could not be considered the legal creator of two inventions that he has said it generated.