Primary Laws Governing Utility Patents

•35USC101- patent eligibility: Inventions patentable include any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. [AI covered here]

•35USC102- novelty (novel and first to file) with no prior art (no patents, publications, or sales) covering all the claims

•35USC103- obviousness (complicated), no combination of prior art covering all the claims and nothing obvious to try

•35USC112- required specification and claims structure

The USPTO answered this question in its recent report on artificial intelligence and intellectual property policy (Public Views on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Policy, October 2020) and explains that AI inventions are treated like all other inventions that come before the Office, by applying the Alice test to decide if the invention is patent-eligible under 35 USC 101​
Subject Matter Eligibility:
. •the claimed invention must be to a statutory category (Step 1); and
  •the claimed invention must qualify as patent-eligible subject matter (Steps 2A and 2B, aka the Alice/Mayo test).

The "Alice" Test

The Alice test is a two-part test that determines whether a patent claim is directed to a patent-eligible concept under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The first part of the test determines whether the claim is directed to an abstract idea, law of nature, or natural phenomenon. If it is, then the second part of the test determines whether the claim includes an inventive concept that transforms the abstract idea into a patent-eligible application.
Claim Limitation(s) fall within at least one of three groupings of abstract ideas:
   •mathematical concepts;
   •mental processes; and
    •certain methods of organizing human activity.

The USPTO Policy on AI Patentability   ​

Society might benefit from a new type of intellectual property designed specifically to deal with AI inventions (which we call “AI-IP”).​