Stephen Thaler has failed in his effort to get the United States Supreme Court to hear his case that his AI system should be granted patents for things it's invented. His filing with the court was to appeal a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision not to grant his AI patents, and a federal judge's upholding that decision. Thaler has contended that his system, the Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience (DABUS), created patentable inventions for a beverage holder and emergency light beacon by itself.

In his filing to the Supreme Court, Thaler said that rejecting AI-created patent applications "curtails our patent system's ability - and thwarts Congress's intent - to optimally stimulate innovation and technological progress." A brief in support of is position from several academics saids the Federal judge's decision "jeopardizes billions of dollars in current and future investments, threatens U.S. competitiveness and reaches a result at odds with the plain language of the Patent Act."

Thaler has also sought patents outside the US and copyrights within in for his AI's work. These efforts come during a time when related viewpoints are emerging that an AI has rights similar to those of humans and should be treated thusly.