AI Dominated Rio Innovation Week 2026. What Comes Next for Patent Protection?
August 7, 2026
By Silvia Boechat and Ana Carolina Corrêa
At the beginning of August, we attended Rio Innovation Week (RIW), a major event focused on technology and innovation which brought together prominent speakers from Brazil and abroad.
The hot topic, present almost everywhere, was Artificial Intelligence (AI). Across sectors such as agrobusiness, mechanics, energy, and healthcare, companies from both private and public sectors showcased how AI is transforming the world we live in.
We saw AI take on different roles across the inventions presented. In some cases, AI acted as an inventive tool, helping to create solutions for specific technical problems. In others, AI operated behind the scenes (i.e., as an assistant for the invention), generating data, optimizing response times, or enhancing efficiency and decision-making. And in others still, AI was the invention itself: AI models or techniques developed for a specific purpose, tailored to address a particular challenge or need, being the star of the show.
Thinking about patent protection, these three patterns (i.e. AI as an inventive tool, AI as part of the invention and AI as the invention itself) are exactly what the Public Consultation on the Examination Guidelines for AI-related Inventions, released by the BRPTO at the end of 2025, seeks to address. Although the final guidelines have not yet been published by the BRPTO, it is clear that the diversity of technological fields affected by AI will make the examination process challenging and subject to ongoing debate in the coming years.
Beyond technological diversity, another aspect that will likely generate considerable debate is how the presence of AI in inventions will be described in the specification. Depending on the extent to which AI contributes to the invention, understanding the amount and depth of information disclosed will be highly relevant during its examination and consequently to the granting of the corresponding patent.
If you are interested in AI-related inventions and would like to acquire more information on this field, please reach out to us at cobo@coboip.com, we will be glad to assist you.
