One of the first tasks of the new UK Minister for AI, Feryal Clark MP, should be to make it easier for companies to patent AI models in the UK says Andrew White, Partner, of Mathys & Squire the intellectual property law firm.Andrew White says that reforming patent rules should be a key part of the Government’s efforts to attract more investment into the UK’s IT industry.Detail on proposed legislation related to AI was dropped from last week’s King’s Speech. However, Andrew White says that introducing reforms to make the UK more welcoming to AI investment could ensure that the UK starts to catch up with other countries like France, China and the US that have taken more of a lead in AI.Andrew explains that at present the UK’s rules on patenting AI technology are restrictive and complex and make it too difficult to patent AI inventions, in particular inventions relating to a new or improved AI model, such as Large Language Models.In both the UK and other major economies, it is possible to patent a novel way of using AI to solve a problem, but it is often not possible to patent the AI itself (“core AI”), such as a new form of Large Language Model. AI-based inventions, and in particular those directed to “core AI”, are often excluded from being patented as being seen by the UK’s Intellectual Property Office as a “program for a computer” or a “mathematical model”.A High Court case Emotional Perception AI vs UKIPO had offered a route for patenting Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), but the UK’s Intellectual Property Office has actually very recently successfully challenged that decision in the Court of Appeal, shutting down one of the few routes in the UK to patent an AI invention.Adds Andrew: “The UK’s rules for patenting technology have developed over the last 30 plus years and are in need of a proper review to see that they are fit for purpose. Many IP lawyers think that the law over patenting fundamental AI technology in the UK has become antiquated.”“Without a proper reform we can’t expect that the courts will adapt to help the UK take a lead in AI.”“Allowing the patenting of a wider group of AI inventions would automatically create an advantage for the UK over other jurisdictions.”