The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is set to convene the first Global Forum on Intellectual Property (IP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on November 9 and 10, 2026, in Geneva, Switzerland, bringing together governments, industry leaders, experts, and other stakeholders to examine the rapidly evolving relationship between AI and intellectual property rights.
Registration is now open for the two-day forum, to be held at WIPO’s headquarters in a hybrid format, which will focus on legal and policy questions arising from the growing use of AI across the innovation and creative sectors, including patents, copyright, trademarks, industrial designs, and trade secrets.
According to WIPO, the forum is being established as a dedicated annual platform where Member States and other stakeholders can exchange experiences, discuss emerging developments, and contribute to international understanding of the implications of AI for the intellectual property system.
WIPO said AI is creating significant opportunities for innovation and creativity while simultaneously raising fundamental questions about rights, ownership, and responsibility.
It highlighted examples of AI being used to accelerate scientific research, develop assistive technologies, and create new forms of visual and artistic expression while, at the same time, pointing to concerns arising when AI systems are trained on human-created material without consent or compensation, including the ability of AI systems to replicate a person’s creative work or voice.
WIPO noted that AI presents challenges for intellectual property frameworks because contemporary AI systems are built using vast quantities of human-generated text, images, music, software code, and other forms of creative and intellectual output.
The technology also raises questions about the concepts of invention and creation, particularly where AI systems generate outputs that may resemble works produced by human creators.
The organisation said the central policy challenge is how intellectual property systems should evolve to maximise the benefits of AI while ensuring that human beings remain at the centre of innovation and creativity.
WIPO said discussions at the forum would cover AI-related legal and policy issues across the full spectrum of intellectual property rights and examine the connections between them.
Among the recurring issues expected to feature are global regulatory and legislative developments, relevant court decisions, inventorship and authorship, and questions concerning AI inputs and outputs.
The forum will also examine developments across different jurisdictions, including legislative and regulatory changes, judicial decisions, emerging licensing models, and market responses to AI.
WIPO said the programme would combine informative presentations with high-level panel discussions and provide opportunities for Member States and other stakeholders to share national and regional perspectives and experiences.
The forum is open to WIPO Member States, Observers, and other interested stakeholders. Participation is free of charge.
The meeting will be conducted in a hybrid format, combining physical participation at WIPO headquarters in Geneva with virtual participation through Zoom and webcast. Interpretation will be available in the six official languages of the United Nations, namely Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
WIPO, however, warned that it would not provide travel sponsorship or assistance with visa applications for participants attending physically.
It said the Forum represents an evolution of its previous work under the WIPO Conversation on IP and Frontier Technologies, which was launched in 2019, and brought together a global community of nearly 20,000 participants to explore emerging technologies and their implications for intellectual property.
Unlike the broader WIPO Conversation, the Global Forum will focus specifically on AI and intellectual property, allowing more sustained, targeted discussion of the legal, regulatory, and policy questions emerging from the technology.
The organization stressed that the forum is intended to complement, rather than replace, the work of its Standing Committees.
Importantly, the organisation said the Forum will not have a norm-setting function as normative discussions and decision-making will remain within the mandates of WIPO’s Standing Committees.
The Forum will also form part of WIPO’s wider programme of work on AI and intellectual property.
A separate initiative, the AI Infrastructure Interchange (AIII), focuses on the technical and operational dimensions of IP in the AI environment and its work includes issues such as metadata, watermarking, identifiers, and rights-management systems.
WIPO launched the AIII in March 2026, describing it as a platform for technical experts, creators, rights holders, AI developers, technology companies, academia, and civil society to examine the infrastructure needed to address AI-related IP challenges. More than 1,700 people registered for its launch event, while its Technical Exchange Network brought together more than 90 experts from different countries and sectors.
The first annual meeting of the AIII is scheduled for November 11, 2026, immediately after the Global Forum and will provide WIPO Member States and stakeholders with an opportunity to receive updates on the technical network’s work and contribute to discussions about future areas of investigation.
The Global Forum is one component of WIPO’s broader work at the intersection of AI and intellectual property.
The organisation said its activities include policy discussions within its Standing Committees, technical work through the AIII, and the development of practical resources such as the AI Policy Toolkit and GenAI: Navigating IP Guide, AI-powered tools and services such as WIPO Translate, and capacity-building programmes for startups, researchers, and public officials.
It explained that these activities are intended to ensure policy, practical implementation, and technology develop alongside one another as AI becomes increasingly integrated into innovation, creative industries, and intellectual property administration.
