South Africa, June 1 -- Who actually owns the intellectual property created by these systems?

Dawood Patel, CEO of Helm, says the current wave of AI adoption is creating a new intellectual property challenge for organisations that rely heavily on customer data and digital interaction.

"Many organisations still think about technology in terms of software ownership," says Patel. "But in AI systems, the real value is often not the software itself. It's the data generated through interactions and the insights that emerge from it."

Over time, AI systems accumulate vast amounts of interaction data such as conversations, behaviours and preferences. This information can become a powerful proprietary asset for businesses. We often say that word...