In the boardrooms of innovation-driven companies, there’s a growing disconnect between the speed of technological change and the tools designed to track it. The stakes are high: patents reveal not just ideas, but intent. Yet the legacy systems used to organize this data, classifications like the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) and the International Patent Classification (IPC), were never meant for strategy. They were built for administration. As a result, R&D leaders, IP analysts, and strategy teams often find themselves navigating massive datasets through outdated lenses, forced to rely on manual tagging, complex Boolean strings, or spreadsheets that fail to scale.It’s not that the data isn’t there. It’s that the tools don’t reflect how modern businesses actually work. That’s what LexisNexis® Intellectual Property is changing with the latest enhancement to LexisNexis® PatentSight+™: AI Classifiers. This new capability allows users to analyze global patent portfolios using machine-trained AI Classifiers that mirror their own strategic priorities, instead of relying on rigid one-size-fits-all taxonomies.
The problem with traditional classification systems isn’t their structure, it’s their rigidity. Public classification codes group technologies into predefined buckets. But real-world innovation doesn’t operate in neat silos. Emerging fields like AI-powered diagnostics, quantum semiconductors, or biotech-software platforms often span multiple domains. For companies trying to monitor competitors, scout white space, or assess risk, these static filters lead to noise, blind spots, and inefficiency.Recent studies highlight the extent of problems when using the manual approach compared to trained AI models. In a peer-reviewed article published in World Patent Information, a supervised machine learning (ML) classifier trained on a few hundred relevant examples was able to identify patents in quantum computing with 96% accuracy. In contrast, traditional CPC-based filtering overlooked significant subsets of relevant filings. The study underscores a key point: AI Classifiers trained on business-specific taxonomies can outperform standard systems in both precision and recall.With LexisNexis® Classification, users can train supervised machine learning models on curated patent sets that reflect their business-specific view of a technology. These AI Classifiers learn to recognize relevance based on actual examples, identifying what fits and what doesn’t. Once trained in the Classification app, the Classifier is deployed directly within PatentSight+, where it becomes a live, reusable filter across dashboards, benchmarking tools, and search workflows.
This isn’t about refining search logic. It’s about redefining the lens entirely. Imagine tracking a market like “robotic surgical systems with machine vision.” A domain that likely spans dozens of CPC codes, but only a subset of them are strategically relevant to your business. With an AI Classifier, you can filter and benchmark only what fits your definition. The result is precision at scale: less manual cleanup, more automation that delivers strategic signals, and insights you can act on with confidence.
When Classifiers are aligned to business intent, they unlock clarity across the organization. Analysts no longer have to re-engineer complex Boolean queries for every new question. R&D teams gain early visibility into adjacent spaces and emerging entrants. IP functions can benchmark portfolios against competitors with a shared understanding. And leadership gains access to insights rooted in strategic relevance, not administrative metadata.Consider the operational gains:
For global IP and innovation teams, the value goes beyond workflow. The ability to define technologies using AI Classifiers enables teams to shift from reactive analysis to proactive decision making. Whether the focus is on M&A, product line decisions, or identifying risk, the advantage is clear.
This is what modern patent intelligence looks like: scalable, tailored, and directly linked to business outcomes. With the integration of AI Classifiers, PatentSight+ is no longer just a platform for exploring data. It’s a tool for shaping strategy that enables you to define relevance and deliver insights that are fully aligned with your objectives.Innovation moves fast. Your analytics should, too.
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