Most software patents written by people should be refused -- I'd say 95% of them are "obvious to someone skilled in the art". Given a particular problem/use-case, a panel of software engineers would easily come with the equivalent design. (As far as I'm concerned, I shouldn't have been granted the patents in my name though companies I've worked for.)
There is probably more of a chance of out-of-box thinking w/AI design in many domains - the AI is simply used as a tool by the a person. Anyway, seems like the patent system is like many other things now, just an engine for the big players.
