DATA STORY | Microsoft leads AI patents race

Microsoft has the maximum number of patents in the artificial intelligence (AI) space, according to a report.

Microsoft has 18,365 patents, followed by IBM (15,046) and Samsung (11,243), according to a study by Berlin-based startup IPlytics.

Five of the top 10 companies are US-based, two are Japanese, one Korean, one Dutch and one German.

“The more countries in which an invention has been patented, the higher the perceived international market potential for the patented invention,” the study said.

Microsoft recently released new machine learning products. It is even planning to train 15,000 in AI-related skills by 2022.

(Image source: Statista)

Data-related challenges are the major reason AI projects get halted or cancelled, according to Arvind Krishna, senior vice president at IBM.

Patent directors should start thinking about royalty costs and security payments, the research found.

"Patent directors should not only consider information retrieved from patent data, but also monitor data on patent litigation or data on patent transfers," the study said.

The research analysed 448,684 patents from 204,947 patent families.

Patents related to AI have become necessary over the years. Over 9,000 patents were filed in January 2019 alone.

(Image source: Statista)

The market for AI software market is expected to grow 154 percent in 2019 and 2020, according to market research firm Tractica.

In March 2019, most of the funding in the AI space was towards machine learning, according to data from Venture Scanner and Statista.

(Image source: Statista)