AI innovation could make trade secrets more valuable than patents, says billionaire investor

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban says artificial intelligence is changing how companies protect innovation, predicting that many firms will stop filing patents altogether. In a recent post on X, Cuban argued that current patents enable large language models to access protected intellectual property, which allows competitors to develop alternative solutions.

His comments add to a growing debate over AI, patents, and the future of intellectual property in the tech industry.

Mark Cuban declared that patent applicants must consider their inventions as training resources for artificial intelligence systems from the instant they submit their applications. He warned that this allows anyone to ask an AI model for alternative ways to recreate the same idea and file competing patents.

According to Cuban, this undermines the very purpose of patent protection. He said companies will increasingly rely on trade secrets instead, as publishing ideas no longer guarantees ownership in an AI-driven world.

Cuban has also criticised the long-standing culture of publishing research and proprietary work. Speaking recently with Clipbook founder Adam Joseph, Cuban said the traditional publish or perish mindset now works against startups.

He argued that sharing detailed work through patents or academic papers only helps train other companies’ AI models. Cuban stressed that in today’s AI economy, data is more valuable than oil or gold and should be protected accordingly.

The comments were sparked by a clip of Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared by Cuban from a 2023 DealBook Summit interview. The video showed Musk explaining that Tesla had made its patents available as open-source material while SpaceX remained mostly outside those patents.

Cuban suggested this approach could become more common as companies prioritise secrecy over public filings to protect innovation from AI misuse.

Cuban’s criticism of the patent system is not new. In 2012, he funded the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s campaign against software patents and has repeatedly argued that such patents hurt small businesses.