OpenAI Weighs Investment in Merge Labs, a Neuralink Rival Co-Founded by Sam Altman

This article was prepared from the source material provided, which cites a Financial Times report and unnamed insiders.

OpenAI is weighing a major investment in Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup co-founded by Sam Altman and Alex Bania that is seeking an $850 million valuation, according to the Financial Times. The move would place Altman in direct competition with Elon Musk's Neuralink, which is valued at $9 billion.

Three people with knowledge of the potential plans, who were not named by the Financial Times so they could speak freely, said Altman is slated to help launch Merge Labs alongside Bania, the CEO and cofounder of the eyeball-scanning crypto venture World. Altman will be named a cofounder but will not invest any of his own money, according to the report. OpenAI's ventures team and other interested parties are expected to participate in the funding.

The investment aligns with Merge Labs' stated goal of using AI advances to build better brain-computer interfaces — a foundational objective at Neuralink, which Musk founded in 2016 while he was still involved with OpenAI.

Altman's Long-Standing Interest in BCIs

Altman's interest in brain-computer interfaces predates the current rivalry. In a 2017 blog post, the OpenAI cofounder speculated that humans may "merge" with machines as soon as 2025 — the source of the startup's name. In that same post, he identified three advances he considered inevitable: "superhuman AI is going to happen, genetic enhancement is going to happen, and brain-machine interfaces are going to happen."

Musk left OpenAI's board in 2018 following a clash with Altman about the direction of the company. Since then, Musk has founded xAI, his rival AI lab built into the site formerly known as Twitter, in 2023, and has sued OpenAI several times, accusing it of abandoning its non-profit origins despite having launched his own for-profit AI company.

While Neuralink has a significant head start with its $9 billion valuation, the reported plans for Merge Labs suggest Altman is intensifying the competition between the two. Details about Merge Labs beyond its name and valuation goals remain limited.