Sam Altman’s New Brain Venture, Merge Labs, Will Spin Out of a Nonprofit

Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup that seeks to read brain activity using ultrasound, is being spun out of Forest Neurotech, a Los Angeles nonprofit.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s new brain-computer interface startup, Merge Labs, is being spun out of the Los Angeles–based nonprofit Forest Neurotech, according to a source with direct knowledge of the plans. It will focus on using ultrasound to read brain activity.

Along with Altman, WIRED has learned, Forest Neurotech’s CEO Sumner Norman and chief scientific officer Tyson Aflalo are among the cofounders of Merge Labs, which is still in stealth mode.

While some details of Merge have previously been reported, this is the first time the company has been linked to Forest Neurotech.

According to the Financial Times, Alex Blania, the CEO of World—an Altman-backed digital identity company that makes an eye-scanning orb—is also among the cofounders. Earlier this year ...