IP is kind of one of those things, like the drug war, where anyone with common sense and no vested interest can say "yeah, that's obviously incredibly fucking stupid".
But nevertheless it continues because the vested interests gain their power from it, and use that power to maintain it.
The only legitimate "IP" is keeping it secret. Plenty of other industries already live by this. SaaS solved software piracy, hedge funds can't or don't bother regarding their algorithms.
It's great that AI is one more brick stacked on the chest of the fundamentally stupid and twisted concept of "IP".