The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last year banned the use of generative artificial intelligence for any purpose, citing security concerns with the technology as well as the propensity of some tools to exhibit “biases, unpredictability and malicious behavior.” , according to an April 2023 report. Internal guidance memo obtained by WIRED through a public records request. Jamie Holcombe, the USPTO’s chief information officer, wrote that the office is “committed to pursuing innovation within our agency” but is still “working to bring these capabilities to the office in a responsible manner.”
Paul Fucito, USPTO press secretary, clarified to WIRED that employees can use “next-generation generative AI models” at work, but only within the agency’s internal testing environment. “Innovators from across the USPTO are now using the AI Lab to better understand the capabilities and limitations of generative AI and to prototype AI-powered solutions for critical business needs,” Fucito wrote in an email.
Outside of the sandbox environment, USPTO staff are prohibited from relying on AI programs like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude for work tasks. Last year’s guidance note also prohibits the use of any output from the tools, including AI-generated images and videos. But Patent Office employees can use some approved AI programs. like those within the agency’s own public database to search for registered patents and patent applications. Earlier this year, the USPTO approved a $75 million contract with Accenture Federal Services to update its patent database with enhanced search capabilities powered by AI.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, an agency within the Department of Commerce, is in charge of protecting inventors, granting patents, and registering trademarks. He also “advises the President of the United States, the Secretary of Commerce, and U.S. government agencies on intellectual property (IP) policy, protection, and enforcement,” according to the USPTO report. website.
At a Google-sponsored event in 2023, Holcombe, the author of the guidance memo, said government bureaucracy makes it difficult for the public sector to use new technologies. “Everything we do in government is pretty stupid, if you compare it to the business world, right?” said. Holcombe specifically cited cumbersome budgeting, procurement and compliance processes, arguing that they hamper the government’s ability to quickly adopt innovations such as artificial intelligence.
The USPTO is not the only government agency that prohibits personnel from using generative AI, at least for some purposes. Earlier this year, the National Archives and Records Administration prohibited the use of ChatGPT on government-issued laptops, according to 404 Media. But soon after, the National Archives organized an internal presentation that encouraged employees “Think of Gemini (Google) as a coworker.” During the meeting, some archivists reportedly expressed concern about the accuracy of generative AI. Next month, the National Archives plans to launch a new public chatbot for accessing archival records developed with Google technology.
Other US government agencies are using (or avoiding) generative AI in different ways. He National Aeronautics and Space Administrationfor example, it specifically banned the use of AI chatbots for sensitive data. NASA decided, however, experiment the technology to write code and summarize research. The agency also announced last week that it is working with Microsoft on an AI chatbot that can aggregated satellite data to make it easy to search. Currently, this tool is only available to NASA scientists and researchers, but the goal is to “democratize access to space data.”