Conference hosted in Gabon on artificial intelligence and intellectual property

The Gabonese Industrial Property Office, in collaboration with the African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI), organised a conference on artificial intelligence and intellectual property.

Philippe Rodhain, an international expert in intellectual property, spoke at the conference and highlighted both the benefits and dangers of AI.

The benefits he identified included the facilitation of creativity amongst artists, writers, musicians and designers. Further, in relation to patents, he said that AI has demonstrated its usefulness for facilitating prior art searches, infringement detection, and technology portfolio analysis.

However, he warned of the dangers of AI in relation to counterfeiting, urging that creators adopt specific requests to AI to ensure author recognition. In relation to the regulation of the use of AI generally, he indicated that efforts are being made in this regard in Europe and America but that Africa still had much work to do in this regard.