OpenAI Invests in Sam Altman’s New Brain-Tech Startup Merge Labs

Merge Labs has emerged from stealth with $252 million in funding from OpenAI and others. It aims to use ultrasound to read from and write to the brain.

On Thursday, OpenAI announced its investment in neurotech startup Merge Labs, cofounded by its CEO, billionaire Sam Altman. OpenAI will collaborate with the new venture to develop technology to link people’s brains to computers.

Merge Labs has raised $252 million in funding from OpenAI, private investment firm Bain Capital, video game developer Gabe Newell, and others to use ultrasound to read and modulate the brain.

Merge joins a growing number of companies, including Elon Musk’s Neuralink, that are developing brain-computer interface technology. Its name comes from the Silicon Valley concept of “the merge,” the hypothetical point at which humans and machine intelligence combine to form a hybrid consciousness, which Altman has written about. Altman previously invested in Musk’s Neuralink ...