The US 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 some tools’ “bias, unpredictability, and malicious intent.” oriented behavior” was cited as a tendency to display, as of April 2023. Internal guidance memo obtained by WIRED through a public records request. USPTO Chief Information Officer Jamie Holcomb wrote that the office is “committed to innovation within our agency” but is still “working to bring these capabilities to the office in a responsible manner.”
USPTO press secretary Paul Fucito clarified to Wired that employees can use “state-of-the-art generative AI models” on the job — but only within the agency’s internal testing environment. “Innovators across the USPTO are now using the AI Lab to better understand the capabilities and limitations of creative AI and to prototype AI-powered solutions for critical business needs,” Fucito wrote in an email. “
Outside of testing environments, USPTO staff are restricted from relying on AI programs such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude for work tasks. Last year’s guidance memo also prohibits the use of any output from the tools, including images and videos generated by AI. But patent office employees can use some approved AI programs, such as 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 improved AI-powered search features.
The US Patent and Trademark Office, an agency within the Department of Commerce, is in charge of protecting inventors, granting patents, and registering trademarks. According to the USPTO’s website, it 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.”
At an event sponsored by Google in 2023, Holcombe, author of the guidance memo, said government bureaucracy makes it difficult for the public sector to adopt new technologies. “What we do in government is pretty silly, when you compare it to the business world, right?” he said. Holcombe specifically cited cumbersome budgeting, procurement and compliance processes, arguing that they inhibit the government’s ability to rapidly adopt innovations such as artificial intelligence.
The USPTO isn’t the only government agency that has banned staff from using generative AI for at least some purposes. Earlier this year, the National Archives and Records Administration banned the use of ChatGPT on government-issued laptops, according to 404 Media. But soon after, the National Archives hosted an internal presentation that encouraged employees to “think. [Google’s] Gemini as a co-worker. During the meeting, some archivists reportedly raised concerns about the accuracy of generative AI. Next month, the National Archives plans to release a new public chatbot to access archive records built with Google technology.
Other US government agencies are using — or avoiding — creative AI in different ways. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, for example, has banned the use of AI chatbots for particularly sensitive data. However, NASA decided to write code and experiment with the technology to summarize the research. The agency also announced last week that it is working with Microsoft on an AI chatbot that could make satellite data easier to search. The tool is only available to NASA scientists and researchers, but aims to “democratize access to space data.”
