Sam Altman Launches Brain Chip Venture to Rival Elon Musk’s Neuralink

⬤ Sam Altman is launching Merge Labs to build brain chips, rivaling Elon Musk’s Neuralink.

⬤ Merge Labs is valued at $850M, backed by OpenAI’s startup fund.

⬤ The Altman–Musk rivalry now extends from AI to brain-computer interfaces

The rivalry between Sam Altman and Elon Musk is about to get even stranger. After competing to prove which of their companies could build the most advanced AI models, the two billionaires may soon take their battle to a new frontier: who can create the best implanted brain chip.

According to a report by the Financial Times, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is helping to found a new brain chip company called Merge Labs. The company will develop what is known as a brain-computer interface (BCI), a technology that uses small implanted electrodes to read neural signals in or near the brain, allowing humans to control digital devices through thought alone.

Reports say Merge Labs is raising funding at a valuation of 850 million dollars, with most of the investment expected to come from OpenAI’s startup fund. Altman is co-founding the company alongside Alex Blania, the head of World ID, a digital identity firm that uses iris scanning and is also backed by OpenAI. However, Altman will not be involved in the company’s day-to-day management.

The new venture will compete directly with Elon Musk’s Neuralink, with Altman betting that AI will give his brain chips an edge over existing players. The company’s name appears to be inspired by a 2017 blog post by Altman in which he wrote about the “merging” of humans and machines, noting that it had already begun through social media algorithms that influence how people think and feel.

Altman also wrote earlier this year about the concept of “Gentle Singularity,” suggesting that a major breakthrough in “high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces” could be on the horizon.

Neuralink, founded by Musk in 2016, currently has a head start. The company has received approval from health regulators in several countries to begin clinical trials and has implanted chips in more than three patients suffering from spinal cord injuries or ALS. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has also granted Neuralink “breakthrough device” status for its technologies aimed at helping people with speech or vision impairments.

Altman and Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2016, but Musk left in 2018 after disagreements with Altman, sparking an ongoing rivalry between them. Musk later launched his own AI company,