When Everyone Has the Same AI, How Do You Stand Out? | This Week in IP

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If you and your competitors can buy roughly the same AI, where does the difference come from? Seth Cronin looks at what happens when AI products converge (OpenAI’s Dots, Meta’s Muse and Grok Bot all pitch the same personal agent) and how to keep a divergent outlook when everyone has the same model: bring AI a problem you’ve actually observed, widen the approaches before choosing one, run small tests, and ask what you have specifically figured out. Plus the IP side: a patent covers its claims, not a product category. Also: Thomson Reuters v. ROSS, the first U.S. appeals ruling on fair use in AI training; Microsoft’s Quine and Anthropic’s Model Hardware Standard; Northwestern’s protective-clothing particles; and Patent of the Week, Toyota’s smart vehicle-to-home patent. Where has AI helped you take a genuinely different approach, rather than produce more of what’s already out there? Tell us in the comments below. This Week in IP, from Invent Anything Hosted by Seth Cronin | ipCapital Group Planned release: October 6, 2026. Recorded September 30; sources dated August 27–September 30, 2026. CHAPTERS 0:00 Same AI. How do you stand out? 0:45 Thomson Reuters v. ROSS: the first appeals ruling on AI training 1:37 Microsoft’s Quine and Anthropic’s Model Hardware Standard 2:50 Clothing that could break down toxic compounds 3:23 Dots, Muse and Grok Bot: the personal agents converge 4:12 Main story: same tools, different questions 5:03 When everyone uses the same algorithm 5:47 A worked example: the irrigation controller 7:41 The IP side: claims, backlog and know-how 8:52 Patent of the Week: Toyota’s smart V2H 10:12 Your examples SOURCES Third Circuit — Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence, No. 25-2153 (opinion filed September 29, 2026): https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/252153p.pdf Reuters — US appeals court upholds Thomson Reuters’ landmark win in AI training lawsuit (September 29, 2026): https://kfgo.com/2026/09/29/us-appeals-court-upholds-thomson-reuters-landmark-win-in-ai-training-lawsuit/ Microsoft Research — Introducing Quine (September 29, 2026): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/introducing-quine-an-ai-research-system-designed-for-the-complexity-of-biology/ Anthropic — Model Hardware Standard research preview (August 27, 2026): https://www.anthropic.com/news/model-hardware-standard-research-preview Northwestern — Wearable nanotech could combat nerve agents (September 28, 2026; ACS Nano paper August 25, 2026): https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2026/09/wearable-nanotech-could-combat-nerve-agents TechCrunch — OpenAI launches Dots (September 29, 2026): https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/29/openai-launches-dots-its-bubbly-agentic-avatar/ Meta — Introducing Muse (September 8, 2026): https://about.fb.com/news/2026/09/introducing-muse-personal-ai-agent/ xAI — Grok Bot documentation and release notes: https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/get-started Simon Willison — OpenAI DevDay 2026 live blog (GPT-6.1 Sol pricing slide, September 29, 2026): https://simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/29/openai-devday-2026-live-blog/ MIT News — Algorithmic monoculture: effects depend on the details (September 29, 2026): https://news.mit.edu/2026/algorithmic-monoculture-effects-depend-on-details-0929 IPWatchdog — Senate IP Subcommittee USPTO oversight hearing (September 29, 2026): https://ipwatchdog.com/2026/09/29/senate-ip-subcommittee-focuses-on-fee-setting-ptab-rule-in-uspto-oversight-hearing/ Toyota Research Institute and Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha — US 12,749,897 B2, “Smart V2H for grid emissions reduction and emergency power distribution,” granted September 29, 2026 (application published January 15, 2026 as US 2026/0018897 A1): https://patentsgazette.uspto.gov/week39/OG/html/1550-5/US12749897-20260929.html The MIT paper is a philosophical analysis of hiring and similar decisions; applying it to invention is Seth’s interpretation. The irrigation controller is a hypothetical example. Quine and the Northwestern particles are early research, not treatments or certified protective gear. A patent does not establish that a product is shipping. Illustrative live-action scenes were generated with AI and are not footage of any company’s product or lab. 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 #AI