Comparative analysis of US and China artificial intelligence patents trends

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, the patenting activities related to the fields of AI is increasing worldwide. In particular, a share of patent filed in China has exploded in recent years and overtakes the numbers in the US. In the present study, we focus our attention on the patenting activity of China and the US. We analyzed 6,281 and 13,664 patent applications in the US and China respectively between 2008 and 2018, and belonging to the "G06F(Electric Digital Data Processing)", "G06N(Computer Systems Based on Specific Computational Models)", "H04L(Transmission of Digital Information)" and nine more relevant technological classes, as indicated by the International Patent Classification(IPC). Our analysis contributes to: first, the understanding of patent application trends from foreign countries filed in the US and China, 2) patent application status by applicants category such as companies, universities and individuals, 3) the development direction and forecasting vacant technology of AI according to main IPC code. Through the analysis of this paper, we can suggest some implications for patent research related to artificial intelligence in Korea. Plus, by analyzing the most recent patent data, we can provide important information for future artificial intelligence technology research.