advance President Trump’s Artificial Intelligence agenda through clear guidelines that support the use of AI as a tool for innovation and accelerate the agency’s use of AI to improve patent examination
Support clear guidelines that allow the use of AI as a tool for innovation and accelerate the USPTO’s use of AI to improve patent examination.
Occurrences
Evidence
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Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) presided over a March 26, 2026 subcommittee hearing on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and his office publicly framed the hearing around USPTO performance and policy direction. The office’s current USPTO-related messaging shows Issa actively engaging patent-office administration in the 2026 term, but the available release does not specifically mention AI guidelines or accelerating USPTO AI use for patent examination.
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USPTO says it is running the Artificial Intelligence Search Automated Pilot Program, designed as a proof of concept to test an automated search conducted before examination of a patent application. The page states the agency will accept petitions to participate until June 1, 2026 or until each technology center reaches 400 accepted applications, whichever occurs first.
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On March 2, 2026, USPTO Director John A. Squires issued updated guidance to patent employees regarding the examination of patent applications and stock ownership, stating the memo was intended to reinforce public confidence in the fairness and impartiality of the patent examination process.
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USPTO’s AI resources page is active and updated in 2026, reflecting ongoing agency-level work around artificial intelligence in the patent system, including AI-related datasets and resources.
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Issa’s office maintains an artificial intelligence issue page and identifies him with House AI work, including the bipartisan House task force on Artificial Intelligence. This supports that AI policy is within his active portfolio, but the page does not show a specific commitment to USPTO patent-examination AI guidelines having been fulfilled.
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The testimony for the March 25, 2026 USPTO oversight hearing addressed AI in patent examination. It says the USPTO is accelerating delivery of new AI tools, made AI search tools mandatory for every patent application in July 2025, deployed new image-search tools in August 2025, and deployed three enhanced Similarity Search tools in February 2026. The opening states this was presented to Chairman Issa's subcommittee.
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The USPTO's ASAP! page was last updated June 4, 2026 and says the agency will not accept petitions after June 1, 2026. The page explains the pilot used an internal AI tool to generate automated pre-examination search results and send Automated Search Results Notices before examination.
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USPTO says its ASAP pilot uses an internal AI patent-search tool to generate an automated pre-examination search and that it will not accept new petitions after June 1, 2026; the page was last updated on June 4, 2026.
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In testimony for Chairman Issa's March 25, 2026 USPTO oversight hearing, USPTO said it had been actively using AI in patent examination, made AI patent-search tools mandatory in July 2025, deployed design-search AI in August 2025, and added three enhanced Similarity Search tools in February 2026.
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USPTO's ASAP page, last updated June 4, 2026, says the agency will not accept petitions after June 1, 2026 and describes the pilot as using automated pre-examination search to improve examination quality and efficiency. It says the ASRN lists up to 10 documents returned by the AI tool, and that examiners consider ASRN documents like other Office search-file documents when searching prior art.
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USPTO Director John Squires testified before Chairman Issa's subcommittee that USPTO was investing in AI to improve examination, had made AI patent-search tools mandatory for every patent application in July 2025, deployed design-patent image-search AI in August 2025, added enhanced Similarity Search tools in February 2026, and anticipated further AI deployments through FY2026 and beyond.
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The Federal Register notice established the Automated Search Pilot Program, with petitions beginning October 20, 2025, a plan to accept at least 1,600 applications, and automated searches using an internal AI tool trained on public patent data. The notice says ASRNs are generated before examination and can help applicants and examiners address prior art earlier.
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USPTO issued revised examination guidance for AI-assisted inventions, replacing its February 2024 guidance. The notice says the same inventorship standard applies regardless of AI use, AI systems cannot be inventors, and AI systems are tools used by human inventors rather than co-inventors.
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USPTO issued guidance applicable April 11, 2024 on use of AI-based tools in practice before the Office. The notice recognizes AI may be used in preparing and prosecuting patent and trademark applications and explains existing duties, certifications, confidentiality requirements, and risk controls for AI-assisted USPTO practice.
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USPTO's 2026 Federal Register notices page, updated during the Aug. 26-28 lookback window, lists the latest USPTO notices including the Aug. 27, 2026 30-day PRA notice for Patent Trial and Appeal Board Appeals and Aug. 17, 2026 Community Outreach Office Locations notice; it does not show a new AI patent-examination guidance, AI patent-examination rollout, Issa bill, or related final action in the lookback window.
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USPTO reported reduced unexamined patent application inventory and quoted Director John Squires saying this was discussed in recent testimony before the House Judiciary IP subcommittee. The release also says USPTO is steadily releasing robust AI tools to assist examiners while working to reduce patent examination wait time.
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“Spencer will oversee artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technology matters within the agency.”
Assessments
USPTO issued AI-related guidance and implemented concrete AI tools in patent examination during the relevant federal term, including AI search tools, design/image search, Similarity Search enhancements, and the Automated Search Pilot Program. Issa also held active oversight of USPTO through his House Judiciary IP subcommittee, including a 2026 hearing where USPTO described these AI deployments. However, the evidence does not show Issa personally authored, sponsored, enacted, or directly secured the guidance or implementation; much of the delivery appears to be agency action. This supports partial credit, with same-term timing and an effort badge for material oversight activity.
USPTO issued AI-related guidance and implemented/expanded AI tools for patent examination during Issa's current House term, including AI-assisted invention guidance, AI search pilots, mandatory AI patent-search tools, and related examination deployments. Issa also exercised active USPTO oversight through his subcommittee. However, the evidence does not show that Issa personally authored, sponsored, enacted, or directly secured the guidelines or AI examination acceleration; much of the concrete implementation appears to be agency action. That supports partial fulfillment rather than full delivery.
Official USPTO materials and March 25-26, 2026 oversight records show the agency was actively expanding AI in patent examination during Issa's current House term, including mandatory AI search tools in July 2025, additional AI design/similarity tools in 2025-2026, and the AI-assisted ASAP pilot. Issa also chaired oversight on USPTO performance, which gives him some credit for support and pressure in the policy area. But the record provided does not show that Issa personally produced or secured the promised 'clear guidelines' on AI use, nor that he can be credited as the primary driver of USPTO's AI deployment. That supports partial rather than full delivery.
Darrell Issa showed active oversight on USPTO AI and patent-examination policy during his current term, including chairing a 2026 hearing where the agency described AI tools already being deployed to speed pre-examination search and examination. That supports partial fulfillment of the broader goal, but the record does not show Issa himself issuing the requested clear AI guidelines or directly driving the full acceleration promised.
There is credible evidence that the USPTO has begun using AI tools in the patent process during Issa's current term, most notably the Artificial Intelligence Search Automated Pilot Program operating in 2025-2026. That aligns with the second half of the promise about accelerating USPTO use of AI to improve examination. However, the record provided does not show that Issa himself delivered clear AI guidelines for patent innovation or directly caused the USPTO pilot or guidance changes. The evidence does show active oversight and engagement on USPTO and AI issues, including a 2026 subcommittee hearing and broader AI-policy involvement, which supports meaningful effort. Because the outcome is only partly matched and candidate-specific credit is limited, the best judgment is partial rather than delivered.