Please contact the UC Berkeley Office of Technology Licensing if you:
Are unsure whether information is confidential Want to use AI tools when drafting disclosure materials Have already entered invention details into an AI tool Need guidance about protecting patent rights Early consultation helps preserve patent eligibility and commercialization opportunities.
You may use AI tools only after removing sensitive details, or after discussing appropriate use with the Berkeley Office of Technology Licensing.
A safe workflow is:
Submit your invention disclosure to OTL first. After submission, you may use AI tools to edit non-confidential narrative text if needed. Avoid including enabling technical details in prompts.
Unpublished research results Detailed descriptions of how an invention works Experimental data or prototype specifications Novel algorithms, chemical compositions, or device designs Any information that would enable someone to reproduce the invention
These details belong only in your confidential invention disclosure submitted to OTL.
No. AI tools can be helpful when used appropriately.
Generally acceptable uses include:
Editing non-confidential text Improving grammar or clarity Drafting generic background information Creating summaries after confidential details are removed Brainstorming language that does not include invention specifics
The key principle is: Do not enter unpublished invention details, experimental results, or enabling technical descriptions.
Public AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Claude, etc., may store prompts or use them to improve models. Entering confidential invention details into these systems can potentially be interpreted as public dissemination.
Public disclosure before filing a patent application can make an invention ineligible for patent protection in many countries.
Sift Biosciences supercharges existing cancer therapies by leveraging artificial intelligence and high-throughput cellular screening to discover and design immunotherapy boosters that significantly extend cancer patient survival. The company was co-founded by Yue Clare Lou (BS ’18 Microbial Biology; PhD ’23 Microbiology) and Maddie Williams (PhD student '23-present, Molecular & Cell Biology) to commercize technology developed during their doctoral research at UC Berkeley.
Pow.Bio provides intelligent fermentation services for industrial and synthetic biology. The company has built an AI platform that rapidly identified better-performing process conditions, increasing output 2–3x from existing infrastructure within just 100 days. The company's services combine continuous fermentation with advanced control methodology to quickly optimize the fermentation process and deliver high yields at low cost. The scale runs from 1-100 liter capacity for bacteria, yeast, and filamentous fungi. The first-of-its-kind fermentation technology solves the...
Manufacturer of bio-derived hydrogen peroxide using synthetic biology intended to make photosynthesis better. The company engineers enzymes that are used instead of traditional chemical catalysts to remove organic solvents during the production of hydrogen peroxide, allowing the process to occur in any environment while reducing carbon emissions.
GigaCrop Founder and CEO Dr. Christopher Eiben earned his PhD in bioengineering at UC Berkeley, focusing on synthetic metabolism and protein engineering in the lab of UC Berkeley Professor Dr. Jay Keasling, a pioneer in...
