USPTO Launches AI-Powered Search Pilot Program— ASAP!

On October 8, 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office announced the Artificial Intelligence Search Automated Pilot (ASAP!) Program—a new initiative designed to evaluate how sharing automated pre-examination search results can improve patent quality and streamline prosecution.  The program will begin accepting petitions on October 20, 2025, and represents the USPTO’s integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the patent examination processes.

Under this pilot, applicants will receive an Automated Search Results Notice (“ASRN”) before substantive examination begins.  This ASRN identifies a “top ten list” of potential prior art issues and occurs “after the application has undergone preexamination processing and a petition to participate in the program has been granted, but prior to examination by a USPTO patent examiner.” [1] This AI-generated ASRN will give applicants an early opportunity to assess the strength of their claims and make strategic decisions—such as filing preliminary amendments, seeking examination deferral, or pursuing express abandonment for partial fee refunds.[2]

The pilot will run until April 20, 2026, or until each Technology Center (TC) accepts at least 200 applications, with a minimum target of 1,600 total participants.[3]  Applicants interested in participating must file Form PTO/SB/470 titled ‘‘Certification and Petition to Participate in the Automated Search Pilot Program’’ with the required petition fee on the same day the application is submitted via Patent Center[4] and must be enrolled in the e-Office Action Program.

The automated search is powered by the USPTO’s internal AI tools, which analyze the application’s Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), specification, and claims to identify relevant documents across multiple databases, including U.S. Patents, Pre-Grant Publications, and Foreign Image and Text (FIT) repositories.[5]    The USPTO clarified that applicant, inventor, and assignee data are excluded from the model training to avoid potential bias and to “maintain patent application confidentiality as required by 35 U.S.C. § 122(a).”[6]

The ASAP! program accepts only original, noncontinuing, nonprovisional utility applications filed under 35 U.S.C. § 111(a).  Applications must be filed electronically through the USPTO’s Patent Center after October 20, 2025, with specifications, claims, and abstracts conforming to DOCX submission requirements.  Excluded from the program are international applications entering U.S. national stage, plant applications, design applications, reissue applications, and all continuing applications.[7]

According to John A. Squires, Director of USPTO, ASAP! marks the USPTO’s “lean-in to AI” and “is the first of many planned AI pilots.”[8]  Patent practitioners and corporate innovators should monitor the ASAP! Programs closely, as the results of this pilot could influence future USPTO procedures, impact of AI in patents, and best practices for strategic patent prosecution.

[1] See 90 Fed. Reg. 48162 (Oct. 8, 2025).

[2] See 90 Fed. Reg. 48161 (Oct. 8, 2025).

[3] Id.

[4] See 90 Fed. Reg. 48162 (Oct. 8, 2025).

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] See 90 Fed. Reg. 48161 (Oct. 8, 2025).

[8] https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/uspto-launches-new-ai-pilot-pre-examination-utility-application-search, last visited Oct. 8, 2025