Neurotech company targets non-surgical methods for connecting humans with ‘advanced AI’ and other technologies.
Sam Altman’s latest venture, brain-computer interface startup Merge Labs, has emerged from stealth, backed by seed funding from OpenAI. The company revealed it is exploring non-surgical approaches to the challenge of brain-computer communication – ultimately seeking to create safe, “high bandwidth” methods to allow users to “integrate with advanced AI.”
While the companies did not officially disclose the size of the round, it has been widely reported to be around $250 million, led by OpenAI with participation from Bain Capital and others. Altman founded the company separately from his role at OpenAI, and is joined by co-founders including BCI researchers Mikhail Shapiro, Tyson Aflalo and Sumner Norman, alongside entrepreneurs Alex Blania and Sandro Herbig.
The launch of Merge Labs confirms reports last year that Altman was gearing up to take on Elon Musk’s Neuralink, the highest profile player in what is becoming a crowded and rapidly evolving field. In addition to the $9 billion-valued Neuralink, a host of other well-funded companies, including Synchron, Blackrock Neurotech, Precision Neuroscience, Science Corporation and Inbrain Neuroelectronics, are all pursuing variations on implanted or minimally invasive devices, largely relying on electrodes implanted into or placed on the surface of the brain to read neural signals.
More of a research lab than a product company at this stage, Merge Labs is targeting a different approach, claiming that meaningful progress in BCIs will require rethinking how the brain is accessed in the first place. With a focus on dramatically increasing the amount of information that can be exchanged with the brain, the company is exploring “molecular approaches” to interfacing with neurons, combined with technologies like ultrasound to transmit and receive signals. Ultimately, the goal is to reach more neurons, at much higher bandwidth, and without the risks and limitations of surgical approaches.
“Recent breakthroughs in biotechnology, hardware, neuroscience, and computing made by our team and others convince us that this is possible,” said the founders in a statement.
As with other BCI companies, Merge Labs sees early applications in restoring lost abilities and supporting healthier brain states in people with injury or disease, before eventually expanding into tools that augment human capability more broadly. By the company’s own admission, success will ultimately be measured by whether it can turn its research into products people actually want to use.
