Exclusive: Patents for AI agents accelerate
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More than 100,000 AI-related patents were issued for the first time in 2025, including a significant jump in patent filings related to agents, according to new data compiled by IFI Claims and shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: Patent filings offer an indication of where companies are targeting their research efforts.
By the numbers: Worldwide AI patent grants reached 107,279, up 83% from three years ago, per IFI Claims, with filings related to agents and generative AI seeing significant growth.
- Generative AI accounted for 16% of patents globally, with agentic AI now comprising 15%, up from just 7% in its previous analysis.
- In the U.S., agentic patent applications were up 40% last year and are up 62% over the past two years.
What they're saying: "GenAI and agentic AI patent applications in the U.S. rose dramatically in 2025, potentially a clue worth keeping an eye on," IFI Claims Patent Services senior marketing manager Lily Iacurci said in a statement to Axios.
Zoom in: On a company-by-company basis, Samsung applied for the most AI patents worldwide in 2025, followed by Huawei and then Google.
- In the U.S., Samsung also had the most filings at 682, followed by Google with 671 and Microsoft at 585.
- Nvidia had the most agentic patent applications in the U.S., followed by Microsoft and Google.
Yes, but: Not all companies are rushing to file patents.
- OpenAI filed just 27 U.S. patent applications in 2025, while Anthropic sought only seven. Neither DeepSeek nor SpaceX's xAI filed for AI-related patents last year, IFI Claims said.
- "Given the nature of AI's rapid evolution, some companies' approach to protecting their AI inventions vary from a robust patent portfolio to a few defensive patents to leaning more heavily on trade secrets," Iacurci said.
The intrigue: While global AI patents remain on the rise, fresh grants in the U.S. have started to level off.
