AI Gave You 100 Invention Ideas. Now What? | This Week in IP

About this episode

AI can give you a hundred invention ideas. Which one solves a problem somebody actually cares about—and what would you build to find out? Seth Cronin looks at where AI belongs in invention: new Atlassian research on brainstorming, a Procore patent for smart safety glasses, and a simple travel-mug problem that turns a list of features into something you can test. Also: MIT’s dissolving batteries, Microchip’s completed Hailo acquisition, a robotic wine server, eleven Purdue patents, and Subaru’s exterior-airbag design for protecting people outside the vehicle. Where has AI helped you get from a plausible idea to a useful test? Share the specific example. This Week in IP, from Invent Anything Hosted by Seth Cronin | ipCapital Group Planned release: September 29, 2026. Recorded September 23; sources dated September 21–22. The Minesoft IP Stack conversation mentioned in the episode was forthcoming at recording. CHAPTERS 0:00 100 ideas. Now what? 0:36 MIT’s dissolving batteries 1:19 Microchip buys Hailo 2:04 A robotic wine server 2:54 Purdue’s eleven patents 3:42 AI and the first spark of invention 5:42 Procore’s smart safety glasses patent 6:24 A better travel mug: problem, constraints, test 8:22 What is different? The prior-art question 9:37 Subaru’s exterior-airbag patent SOURCES MIT — batteries that break down in the GI tract: https://news.mit.edu/2026/batteries-safely-break-down-in-gi-tract-could-improve-ingestible-devices-0921 Microchip — completed Hailo acquisition: https://ir.microchip.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1415/microchip-technology-completes-acquisition-of-hailo New York Law School — RobinoVino: https://news.nyls.edu/nyls-patent-law-clinic-secures-patent-for-ai-enabled-robotics-innovation/ Purdue — eleven recently issued patents: https://stories.prf.org/september-edition-newly-issued-patents-26/ AUTM — definition of technology transfer: https://autm.net/surveys-and-tools/tools/director-s-toolkit Atlassian — Don’t outsource the spark: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/ai-at-work/dont-outsource-the-spark-how-to-balance-human-thinking-and-ai Brian Solis — commentary on human value and AI: https://briansolis.com/2026/09/in-the-age-of-ai-the-brands-must-feel-more-human/ Procore — US 12,743,822 B2, “Dynamic generation of data objects using smart safety glasses,” granted September 22, 2026: https://patentsgazette.uspto.gov/week38/OG/html/1550-4/US12743822-20260922.html Subaru — US 12,741,608 B2, “Airbag apparatus,” granted September 22, 2026: https://patentsgazette.uspto.gov/week38/OG/html/1550-4/US12741608-20260922.html The Atlassian result concerns brainstorming tasks, not patentability. The MIT work includes animal testing. Patent disclosures do not establish a product launch, performance or safety. Generated illustrative scenes are not footage of the companies’ products. MUSIC “The Crate Desk” — original composition for Invent Anything. Piano recordings by Versilian Studios, packaged by Nicholaus P. Brosowsky (tonejs-instruments), CC BY 3.0; pitch-shifted, arranged and processed. No endorsement implied. https://github.com/nbrosowsky/tonejs-instruments https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Additional sounds: Karoryfer Black and Blue Basses and VCSL (CC0); GeneralUser GS by S. Christian Collins. Jev LevelDrive saturation used under its MIT license. https://schristiancollins.com/generaluser.php #ThisWeekInIP #InventAnything #Invention #Innovation