Artificial intelligence (AI) already helps research teams design novel molecular structures, predict protein interactions, and identify therapeutic candidates, dramatically increasing the speed of drug discovery. The economic implications are substantial: AI drug discovery is projected to generate $13.4 billion by 2035, up from $1.8 billion in 2024.1 But there's a catch. Pharmaceutical economics depends on patents, and patents require human inventors who actually conceived the inventions. Courts have held that AI systems cannot be [...]

The USPTO's new director, John A. Squires, has moved quickly to set a tone on subject matter eligibility. Within days of confirmation, he signed patents in distributed ledger technology and medical diagnostics (September 23, 2025). Shortly thereafter, he designated an Appeals Review Panel decision addressing AI as precedential (November 4, 2025). Most recently, he reminded examiners of the evidentiary role of declarations using examples in AI (December 4, 2025). Squires has singled out AI, distributed ledger technologies and diagnostics as [...]

The US Patent and Trademark Office rescinded and replaced previous guidance for examining patent applications for AI-assisted inventions, calling the previous framework inapplicable.1 The 2024 guidance incorrectly applied factors used to assess joint inventorship for considering AI-assisted inventions and is inapplicable because AI systems can't be inventors, the Patent Office said in a notice that was scheduled to publish in the Federal Register Nov. 28. The new guidance says the same legal standard for inventorship should [...]