Why?-abetes: Understanding Diabetes Management in Rural Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa

This project will investigate how diabetics, family members, and community members involved with diabetes relate to the disease and its continued management in a rural area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Although diabetes is an issue worldwide, it has been largely over-looked in sub-Saharan Africa. This study utilized interviews with diabetics, family members of diabetics, and clinic staff as well as personal observations to reveal the strategies, challenges, and stories of diabetes in this area. Conversations with local health experts verified that diabetes is a major issue in the area of this study. Topics of interest were support structures present; education; hardships with diabetes; diabetes management through medication, diet, and exercise; mode of access to health care; checking blood sugar; the use of traditional medicine; attitudes about diabetes; and the questions raised by the interview subjects. Education and support appeared to be the biggest problems for diabetics in this part of rural Kwa-Zulu Natal

The AI Quid Pro Quo Problem: Suggesting a Framework for Patents Involving Artificial Intelligence-Assisted or -Created Inventions

Innovation involving artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly expanding and diffusing into other areas of technology. Additionally, inventors have been using AI to assist in new technology for quite a while and have likely received patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or “Office”) for their inventions without disclosing the AI involved in the patentable subject matter. As AI has become increasingly present in the implementation of new technology, the question of whether an AI can be an inventor has arisen. In Thaler v. Iancu and on appeal, the courts have affirmatively said no. However, this decision implicates the reliability, clarity, and incentivization of patents involving this subject matter. Given how fast AI technology has been developing, Congress should act to modernize the Patent Act to account for AI-assisted or -created inventions. In the meantime, this Note suggests the USPTO, through its regulatory power, can help alleviate these concerns by creating an identification system and requiring inventors to disclose the kind of AI involved in the assistance or in the creation of subject matter in patent applications