John A. Squires, Deputy Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, said, "I have promised the Senate Judiciary Committee and various inventors that I will 'actively engage' in the field of artificial intelligence. The ASAP announced today! The project is the first of many artificial intelligence pilot projects we plan to launch, aimed at helping examiners and applicants jointly ensure that patents have a solid foundation. Quality begins at the application submission stage - our ambitious examiners have developed a series of new tools that have restructured workflows and focused on addressing the thorny bottlenecks that constrain new applicants' work efficiency, examination throughput, and ultimately patent quality. ASAP! The project aims to establish a consensus foundation for all parties from the initial stage. This is a manifestation of our active involvement in the field of AI. Please stay tuned for further updates. ”

This new pilot project will send preliminary communication documents to applicants, which will clearly list the "Top Ten Potential Existing Technical Issues List" that need to be focused on. By generating AI Assisted Search Results Notice (ASRN), ASAP! The project will provide the applicant with an early opportunity to evaluate their claims based on existing technology before substantive examination begins. In fact, the pilot project will also inform applicants of preliminary response options that can be taken, such as:

The US Patent and Trademark Office will use the pilot results to evaluate the effectiveness of pre examination searches, analyze the scalability of generating ASRN, and collect data to provide decision-making basis for subsequent work and supporting pilot projects. To participate in ASAP! For the project, the applicant needs to submit a specific application form and pay the application fee at the same time.