Intellectual property protection in the age of self-learning systems: Appropriability issues in artificial intelligence

This study examines how firms in the autonomous driving industry that pursue artificial intelligence-based innovations attempt to appropriate returns from these innovations. It intends to contribute to the literature on value appropriation from innovation by investigating the extent to which firms can and do keep the key components of AI systems (data set, training approach, and model) private versus publishing them. Using a qualitative research design, we establish that there are regulatory, technical, and enforcement aspects to the components that prompt firms to either protect or publish.