USPTO Seeking to Leverage Artificial Intelligence to Assist with Patent ExaminationJune 18, 2025

In a world where the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more prevalent by the day, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is planning to utilize AI for patent examination purposes. On June 4, 2025, the USPTO published a Request for Information (RFI) via SAM.gov, which is the System for Award Management and is an official website of the U.S. government. One aspect of SAM.gov is that it functions as a free, centralized source for discovering and securing contract opportunities with the U.S. government. The USPTO’s RFI seeks AI-based tools to assist with performance of tasks related to patent examination.

According to the Statement of Objectives (Statement) accompanying the RFI, the scope of the RFI entails providing “AI tools to aid in the completion of a comprehensive search report delineating analysis between the prior art found and the claim(s) in the application” which includes “utilizing [machine learning] and AI to perform a comprehensive search based on the claimed invention in light of the disclosure in the specification”. The patent examination tasks for which the USPTO seeks AI-based solution(s) are related to Utility, Plant, and Design applications and include: (1) prior art searching based upon the claimed invention(s) of filed patent applications; (2) comparing the search results against said claimed invention(s); (3) providing notations of where claim elements are found in the prior art; (4) providing citations of relevant prior art applicable to novelty or non-obviousness considerations related to the claimed invention(s); and (5) generating a final report mirroring a search report under Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Chapter I, a PCT Chapter II Examination Report, or a U.S. Office Action in terms of applying the novelty or non-obviousness standards. Thus, based on the RFI and Statement, the USPTO is seeking to automate the examination of claimed inventions with respect to novelty and non-obviousness under 35 U.S.C. §§ 102–103.

The Statement further notes that future enhancements could include AI-based tools to aid in examining patent applications with respect to formality objections to portions of the application as well as with respect to 35 U.S.C. §§ 101–112.

The RFI notes that a goal of implementation of these types of AI-based solutions is to reduce patent application backlogs. If and/or when any such AI tools are established and utilized by the USPTO to aid in patent examination, will these tools help to reduce application pendency and/or decrease application backlog? Patent applicants everywhere will be curious to find out.

Joseph Hallman is an intellectual property attorney at McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC. For additional information please visit www.ipmvs.com or contact Joseph directly via email at joeseph.hallman@ipmvs.com