The European patent authorities have rejected an attempt to register an AI as an official inventor.

The possibility’s been a subject of debate for some time, and last summer a group of legal experts decided to force the issue. The group, led by Professor Ryan Abbott of the University of Surrey, submitted designs developed by an AI to the authorities in the US, UK and Europe, and later Germany, Israel, Taiwan and China.

The AI concerned, named Dabus, was created by Stephen Thaler, and is described as a connectionist artificial intelligence.