ChatGPT maker OpenAI and company CEO Sam Altman may be preparing to back a brain implant startup that could someday compete against Elon Musk’s Neuralink.
According to a report by the Financial Times, OpenAI’s new venture – called Merge Labs is in the process of raising new funds at an $850 million valuation. Citing three sources familiar with the matter, it goes on to say that most of this funding will come from OpenAI’s own venture team.
As it turns out, OpenAI may be planning to take the help of Alex Blania, the CEO of Tools for Humanity, a company previously known as World. Sam Altman’s other iris-scanning digital ID project startup that to launch Merge Labs.
For the inquisitive, World is a Sam Altman-backed iris-scanning digital ID cryptocurrency project that wants to establish a global digital identity and financial network.
The report goes on to say that while Altman will be a co-founder at Merge Labs, he won’t be actively participating in everyday activities at the brain-tech startup. And while talks about investment are still in early stages, it looks like the company will raise $250 million from OpenAI, with the rest of the amount coming from other investors. Also, Altman may not personally invest in the project.
Since Neuralink’s inception back in 2016, the Elon Musk-backed brain implant startup has made some serious progress in the field. Currently, the company is conducting trials on humans who suffer from paralysis to let them speak and control devices with their thoughts.
But Merge Labs isn’t the only company that is planning to take on Neuralink. Elon Musk’s brain interface startup is facing stiff competition from the likes of Precision Neuroscience, another brain implant startup founded by ex-Neuralink co-founder Ben Rapoport that wants a non-invasive implant which works by placing a thin electrode film on the brain’s surface.
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Blackrock Neurotech, a company founded way back in 2008, is also working with rigid microelectrode grids that are placed in the brain’s cortex. However, this method requires an operation.
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