With the progress in artificial intelligence (AI), considerable efforts are being made to improve intellectual property policies. AI is a core technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and patent applications and research papers are increasingly published in various industrial fields. This study aimed to systematically understand the trend in intellectual property research related to AI in Korea by quantitatively analyzing domestic academic papers published by the Research Information Sharing Service (RISS). The findings will enable researchers, policymakers, and legal experts to contribute to future policy establishment and academic development.

The results were as follows: First, the number of papers on intellectual property related to artificial intelligence has increased rapidly since 2017, recording the highest number of 127 articles in 2023. Second, the TF-IDF analysis of major keywords revealed that “copyrights” and “artificial intelligence” were the most important keywords. Third, among ten major topics, “work and copyright protection,” “patent and algorithm,” and “artificial intelligence and invention” had a high proportion. Finally, the topic trend analysis confirmed that AI-related research reached the highest point in various fields in 2023.