“PATENTABLITY OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-GENERATED INVENTIONS IN INDIA: LEGAL CHALLENGES AND IMPLICATIONS”

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping the landscape of innovation by enabling machines to autonomously generate technical solutions and inventive outputs that were once exclusively attributable to human creativity. This evolution presents significant conceptual and legal challenges for patent systems that are grounded in traditional notions of human inventorship. In India, the Patents Act, 1970 does not specifically address inventions created by AI systems, leaving an important gap in legal recognition. The current statutory framework requires a natural person to be named as an inventor, a requirement that is at odds with the autonomous nature of some AI generated innovations. This research critically examines the patentability of AI generated inventions under Indian law, analyzing key statutory provisions such as Section 3(k) — which excludes algorithms and computer programs per se from patentability — and broader criteria like novelty, inventive step, and disclosure requirements, including challenges posed by opaque “black box” AI models. Drawing on comparative perspectives from the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, China, Australia, and South Africa, the study identifies global trends and judicial approaches, including high profile cases where courts reaffirmed that only human inventors may be legally recognized.