Patents require disclosure of the technology. Otherwise, companies will keep new inventions secret and resort to trade secrets, which undermines overall innovation.
Meyers 19 , Jessica M. Meyers is an attorney at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. She specializes in patent law, particularly as it relates to artificial intelligence technologies (Jessica M., 2019, “Artificial Intelligence and Trade Secrets,” Landslide, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law/publications/landslide/2018-19/january-february/artificial-intelligence-trade-secrets-webinar/)
That trade secrets are seen by many as hampering innovation is not new to the age of AI, but it may be particularly acute for AI technologies. Trade secret law may be seen at odds with patent and copyright law, for example, which reward disclosure of innovation. Such disclosure enables others to build on or design around the innovations of others, spurring further advancement. If information is kept secret instead, this virtuous cycle is interrupted. Inventors cannot build on ideas that are hidden from view, and many companies will continue to research in the same area, often duplicating efforts. Moreover, because trade secret protection adheres immediately, e.g., to research and preliminary data, and does not require that an innovation ever be realized, valuable ideas that could lead to larger discoveries may go unshared.8 This is of particular consequence for AI technologies, for which the spread of innovation may already be difficult. AI requires significant investments in R&D, access to data sources, and the participation of highly skilled employees, all of which can limit the opportunities for significant AI advances.