China Dominates Global Generative AI Patent Surge, UN Reports

China has emerged as the global leader in generative AI patent filings, submitting six times more patents than the United States, according to data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Over the past decade, China has filed more than 50,000 patent applications, with a significant portion, about 25%, filed in 2023 alone. Chinese tech giants such as ByteDance and Alibaba have been major contributors to this surge. South Korea, Japan, and India follow in the rankings, with India showing the fastest growth rate among them.

WIPO reports an eightfold increase in international patent filings for generative AI innovations over the past six years. Between 2014 and 2023, China filed over 38,000 GenAI patents, significantly outpacing the United States, which filed approximately 6,300 patents during the same period. These patents cover a wide range of applications, including chatbots like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, as well as advancements in drug development and product design. Despite the rapid technological advancements, concerns have been raised about potential job losses and the need for stronger intellectual property protections to safeguard human creativity.