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Accenture Federal Services has been awarded a $75 million contract to improve the integration of artificial intelligence in the USPTO’s prior art search tools.  

As the USPTO’s application backlog has increased from just over 500,000 applications in 2018 to nearly 800,000 applications in 2024, it continues to seek ways to improve efficiency. 

In 2022, the USPTO implemented new application routing processes to increase the likelihood that a patent application would be assigned to an examiner with the pertinent technical background, and extended working hours of its examiners.  In 2023, it focused heavily on hiring new examiners and improving onboarding education.

Now, the USPTO is tackling prior art search efficiency by relying more heavily on the use of AI.  Many patent filers are hopeful that new AI search tools will help to reduce application pendency and improve the quality of examination.

A critically important part of the examination process is performing a comprehensive prior art search. The exponential growth of prior art, in addition to the breakneck pace of technological innovation in recent years, has made it increasingly challenging for agency examiners to quickly and efficiently discover relevant prior art.