At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China on July 6, 2023, a sign displaying the acronym AI (Artificial Intelligence) was captured in a photo by REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo. The decision made on Friday was a result of losses incurred by Thaler on bids for U. S. patents. These patents were sought for inventions that Thaler claimed were created by DABUS (Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience). Thaler also attempted to acquire DABUS-generated patents in other countries such as the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, and Saudi Arabia, with limited success.

Judge Howell commented, "This case, however, is not nearly so complex. " In 2018, Thaler applied for a copyright for the piece of visual art called "A Recent Entrance to Paradise, " which he asserted was created solely by his AI system without any human involvement. The application was rejected by the copyright office last year, stating that creative works must have human authors to be eligible for copyright protection. Thaler challenged this decision in federal court, arguing that human authorship is not a concrete legal requirement, and granting AI copyrights would align with the purpose of copyright as defined in the U. S. Constitution to "promote the progress of science and useful arts. " In an article with a gallery, it is mentioned that corporate attorneys prefer to use ChatGPT themselves instead of paying law firms for its services.