Genetic programming (GP) is method for automatically creating computer programs. It starts from a high-level statement of what needs to be done and uses the Darwinian principle of natural selection to breed a population of improving programmes over many generations. This text presents the application of GP to a wide variety of problems involving automated synthesis of controllers, circuits, antennas, genetic networks, and metabolic pathways. It describes 15 instances where GP has created an entity that either infringes or duplicates the functionality of a previously patented 20th-century invention, six instances where it has done the same with respect to post-2000 patented inventions, two instances where GP has created a patentable new invention, and thirteen other human-competitive results.