Editorial: AI Patent Power Play – Will Fragmented Regulation Hold the U.S. Back? AI Patent Power Play: China Outpaces the U.S. in the Global AI Innovation Race. While China pushes forward with a unified national AI strategy, the United States faces a fragmented regulatory landscape, where individual states—like California, New York, and Texas—are introducing their own rules on data privacy, algorithmic accountability, and AI safety. This patchwork approach may encourage localized innovation, but it also creates regulatory confusion and risks slowing down national-scale coordination. Between 2014 and 2023, China filed more than 38,000 generative AI patents, outpacing the United States by more than sixfold. According to recent data from intellectual property watchdogs and academic studies: