WIPO's latest report highlights a massive increase in GenAI patents, showing how the AI revolution is spreading across sectors, markets, and infrastructure

Dr. Esther Luzzatto, public activist, social impact leader, and businesswoman.

(photo credit: Michal Luzzato)

ByDR. ESTHER LUZZATTO

JULY 26, 2026 11:42

Generative artificial intelligence is clearly evolving beyond a simple tech trend. It represents a full-scale transformation that is altering industries, redefining business approaches, and changing the workforce. The technology is entering nearly every domain, from software creation and content production to finance and healthcare, while posing key questions for companies and policymakers about leadership in this shift, those who may lag, and the practical path forward for human progress.

A fresh analysis from the World Intellectual Property Organization on patents in generative AI supports the idea of a true transformation and offers compelling insights into the link between intellectual property and tech advancement.

The analysis shows that the pace of GenAI patent growth accelerated sharply in the past year, with the count of patent families in this area almost doubling from 2024 to 2025, moving from 18,862 to 37,808. In addition, GenAI patents now make up 8.7 percent of all AI patent families, compared to 6.1 percent in 2023.

The West Narrows the Distance with China

Additional notable details in the analysis cover the geographic and geopolitical spread of GenAI patents. The findings indicate that China maintains its lead in overall patent volume in the field, yet expansion has turned more worldwide, with strong rises also seen in the United States, Japan, Germany, Canada, and Switzerland.

China released over 43,000 patent families across 2024 and 2025 combined and remains ahead of other leading nations. The United States serves as a key secondary center, climbing from roughly 1,185 families in 2023 to over 4,380 in 2025. Japan posted the most dramatic rise, with a striking yearly growth rate of 210 percent, while Germany surpassed the United Kingdom to head Europe in this area.

One factor behind Japan's increase is the volume of patents from the Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp., which the analysis identifies as the top global holder of GenAI patents. The firm now controls 2,985 patent families in the field, almost all submitted in 2023 and released in 2025.

It is worth noting here that the firm has directed major investments toward notable Israeli firms including Wiz, OurCrowd, Redis, and Lemonade, with emphasis on cybersecurity, fintech, and artificial intelligence.

Creating a Path from Research to Market and Use

Regarding Israel, the country holds a strong position in the AI space through talent and innovation, yet it does not feature prominently on the worldwide patent landscape in this specific analysis. Data from Israel's National Council for Civilian Research and Development 2025 report shows Israel ranks second globally in AI patent applications per person, behind South Korea. Still, the growth rate of Israeli applications trails that of nations such as Sweden, Germany, and Korea. Overseas research centers and global tech leaders drive inventive work in Israel in this domain, ahead of domestic firms.

I share the view of the Council's chair, Prof. Nava Ratzon, that success depends not only on patent numbers but on how many lead to expanding firms and quality employment.

Prof. Ratzon also stressed the importance of a multi-year, well-supported national AI initiative with clear goals that builds a seamless flow from research to commercialization and implementation, while bolstering infrastructure and talent. One key national priority she highlights is speeding technology uptake in all economic areas to boost output and deliver improved public services to citizens.

Patents and the Market Move Together

What insights emerge from the analysis?

Above all, the growth rate is exceptional and nearly exponential, pointing to swift expansion in patent activity alongside a real technological advance. WIPO data reveals that in just two years the number of GenAI patent families nearly doubled, with over 56,000 new families added in 2024-2025, exceeding the total from the prior decade combined.

The wider meaning is that intellectual property now serves as more than a forecast of coming trends. For GenAI, it mirrors a market already deep in the adoption stage. While patents once came years ahead of the market, the current filing pace shows the technology is already part of development, product creation, and commercialization efforts rather than stuck in early phases.

Put simply, AI is entering markets at an unmatched speed and being taken up quicker than in other tech areas where patents still lead commercial readiness, such as medical devices or heavily regulated fields that need time, testing, and adjustments before wide entry.

Beyond that, the GenAI rise involves not just software and models but a fresh infrastructure sector covering chips, memory, storage, server facilities, and cooling and energy solutions. As systems grow more demanding in resources, speed, and flexibility, pressure builds on hardware and power sectors, shifting innovation from the model itself to the full operational setup around it.

The Start of a Deep Transformation

What lies ahead?

The report notes that GenAI is already in use across a wide array of applications and is set to strengthen its role in areas like manufacturing, finance, healthcare, and energy. This points to an even larger picture where AI effects will reach beyond software into core parts of the economy, infrastructure, and production. AI is already reshaping medicine, agriculture, foodtech, and agritech, serving not only as an automation aid but as a partner in decisions, data review, and process improvement.

In drug creation, AI is poised to take on bigger roles in planning clinical trials, running simulations, picking molecules, and cutting both timelines and high costs of bringing new treatments to market. Collaborations between pharma firms and AI companies are underway, moving from targeted gains to a full overhaul of the development process.

In agriculture, foodtech, and agritech the effects are also growing clearer. AI use for field data review, real-time condition monitoring, smart farm management, and input optimization is already raising yields, cutting waste, and increasing efficiency. The coming phase will involve systems that turn data into action almost instantly. GenAI thus acts as more than a tech driver; it forms a broad infrastructure shaping how industries produce, develop, and function.

Looking forward, or already today, the WIPO report signals GenAI's ongoing spread into fast-growing areas such as AI agents, reasoning models, and multimodal systems. It projects that as the technology enters healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and energy more deeply, ties between AI innovation and core real-economy sectors will strengthen further.

In summary, we appear to stand at the outset of a major transformation that will touch all of humanity. AI is set to keep advancing quickly and reshape how we work, learn, create, access services, and run businesses. In this emerging reality, intellectual property will play a vital part by protecting creators, rewarding real innovation, and supporting ongoing creation and progress for the good of humanity overall.

The author is CEO of The Luzzatto Group, Israel's longest-established intellectual property group, which is marking its 157th anniversary this year.