Bloomberg reported Tuesday that according to data from the World Intellectual Property Organization, China has dramatically increased its lead over the United States in the number of Artificial Intelligence (AI) patents it is filing.
In 2022, Chinese companies and institutions filed applications for 29,853 AI-related patents, an increase over 2021’s 29,000 patents filed. The figure in 2022 is nearly 80% more applications than the US filed, which over the same period amounted to 16,805, a decline of 5.5% year over year in the nation’s applications.
The leaderboard of 2022 was rounded out by Japan and South Korea, which applied for 8,870 and 7,899 AI patents respectively.
Over the past year, China has generated over 40% of the global total of AI patent applications, according to the data.
The surge in intellectual property activity has followed the urging of President Xi Jinping, who noted the importance of the nation accelerating its fundamental scientific research. In response, companies have made substantial increases in their investments into AI and quantum computing research and development.
China is increasingly seeking to increase its national self-sufficiency in crucial technological fields, such as chip-making, space exploration and military technologies.
The moves by Beijing came amid increasing efforts by the United States to limit China’s access to advanced chipmaking technologies and other scientific fields which could have military applications.
Currently Baidu, the Chinese multinational technology company is competing with other Chinese tech giants such as Alibaba Group, Tencent, and other minor startups such as Baichuan and Zhipu, to create a locally developed version of US rival OpenAI’s generative AI chatbot ChatGPT.
Already some Chinese tech firms, such as Huawei Technologies, have established themselves as innovation leaders globally in the fields of networking, supercomputing, and image recognition.
China has led the United States since 2017 in the number of AI filings, after Chinese companies began developing algorithms for a wide range of businesses, from ride-hailing to online shopping.
