USPTO’s Path from Open Data to AI

A foundation in open data laid the groundwork for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s artificial intelligence journey, said Scott Beliveau, branch chief of advanced analytics and acting director of data architecture at USPTO.

“AI isn’t magic. There’s no wand to be waved that improves enterprise inefficiencies,” Beliveau said during an Oct. 21 Cognilytica’s webinar. “Having the technology alone simply isn’t enough,” he said. A collaborative environment is just as important.

He broke USPTO’s AI work into four chapters, beginning with open data, which former Director David Kappos leveraged to decrease a backlog of patent applications under the Obama administration. The idea of building an intelligent agent was raised, but it “didn’t get that far off the drawing board,” Beliveau said, mainly because it didn’t get much general support. It didn’t feel achievable, “like proposing the building of a hotel on Mars, but we didn’t have a ship to get there.”

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