According to a new United Nations report, China has emerged as the global leader in the race for generative AI patents, surpassing other countries with its rapid advancements and innovations in the field.
China’s rapid ascent in the Al field is further highlighted by its dominance in patent filings and the development of cutting-edge Al technologies. The country’s tech giants, such as Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, alongside numerous start-ups, are spearheading advancements that are reshaping industries from healthcare and finance to transportation and manufacturing.
The report highlighted that between 2014-2023, more than 38,000 GenAI innovations came out of China, six times more than those filed by investors in the United States which had 6,276, in the second place. The Republic of Korea occupied the third position with 4,155 innovations, followed by Japan with 3,409 and India with 1,350.
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According to the report, GenAl patents currently represent 6 percent of all Al patents globally. The top ten applicants include Tencent (2,074 inventions), Ping An Insurance (1,564), Baidu (1,234), Chinese Academy of Sciences (607), IBM (601), Alibaba Group (571), Samsung Electronics (468), Alphabet (443), ByteDance (418), and Microsoft (377).
Image and video data dominated GenAl patents (17,996 inventions), followed by text (13,494) and speech or music (13,480). GenAl patents using molecule, gene, and protein-based data grew rapidly (1,494 inventions since 2014) with a 78 percent average annual growth over the past five years.
According to a WIPO report, since the 2017 introduction of the deep neural network architecture that is now synonymous with GenAI, the number of GenAI patents has increased by more than 800 percent through 2023. The sharp rise in patenting activity reflects the recent technological advances and the potential of GenAI.
“GenAI has emerged as a game-changing technology with the potential to transform the way we work, live, and play”, said Daren Tang, WIPO Director General.
Speaking with CNBC, Wei Sun, senior consultant of artificial research at Counterpoint Research, said China has a hugely untapped market for consumers and also for businesses and industry partners to innovate and help bring generative Al technologies in different applications or industries, using different specialized data sets.
“That’s the key for China to win, to have the real-world application deployments that might surpass the U, S, in this area”, she added.
It is worth noting that the Chinese government has prioritized Al as a key driver of future economic growth, implementing strategic policies and initiatives to foster an ecosystem conducive to Al innovation.
Recall that in May 2024, the country released a three-year action plan to strengthen standards in various cutting-edge technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence chips, generative AI, quantum information, and brain-computer interfaces, aiming to better drive technological and economic development and enhance international influence. These efforts have led to significant progress in Al’s capabilities, including breakthroughs in machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision.
Notably, the government ban on popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, has seen tech companies in the country accelerating their efforts to develop homegrown AI models that can serve similar functions, with Alibaba and Baidu launching their win LLMs.
As China continues to push the boundaries of Al, its influence on the global technology landscape will continue to grow. This will not only strengthen China’s position in the global AI race, but will also see the country set new benchmarks for innovation and application in the Al sector.