Sam Altman is currently working on a new startup called Merge Labs, which is developing a brain-computer interface, and is raising funds for it, which will likely come mainly from the venture capital team at OpenAI, anonymous sources told the Financial Times.
The startup is expected to be valued at $850 million. A source familiar with the deal told TechCrunch that negotiations are still in the early stages and OpenAI has not yet confirmed its participation, so terms are subject to change.
Merge Labs is also reportedly collaborating with Alex Blanch, who heads Tools for Humanity (formerly World), Altman’s eye-scanning digital identification project, which, according to the company’s description, “allows anyone to prove their humanity.”
Merge Labs will compete with Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which develops computer interface chips designed to be implanted in the brain. Musk founded Neuralink in 2016 (although its existence only became known in 2017), and the company has made significant progress.
Neuralink is currently conducting trials with people suffering from severe paralysis. The company’s goal is to enable them to control devices with their thoughts. In June, the company raised $600 million in Series E funding with a valuation of $9 billion.
Neuralink (and possibly Merge Labs) could revolutionize the way humans interact with technology. Some might even say that their technologies could lead humanity to “singularity.”
Long before Silicon Valley became obsessed with the concept of artificial general intelligence (AGI), it was fascinated by “singularity.” Musk used this term to describe the time when artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence. A more classic definition (based on the 1960s novel of the same name by Dino Buzzati) refers to the merging of technology with humans.
Altman wrote about “merging” in his blog in 2017. “Although the merger has already begun, it will become even more remarkable. We will be the first species to create our own descendants,” he claimed at the time, referring to research he had seen at OpenAI, where Musk was still a co-founder.
Musk left OpenAI in 2018, and since then, relations between the two tech leaders have soured. This week, Altman and Musk got into a fight on X after Altman accused Musk of manipulating X, and Musk called Altman a liar.
We will have to wait and see when and if the creation of Merge Labs will be officially announced. But it is quite logical that Altman was not going to allow Musk to work on such an important issue as singularity without competition.
