OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is co-founding Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup positioned to compete directly with Elon Musk’s Neuralink. According to The Financial Times, the company plans to raise $250 million at an $850 million valuation, with a large portion of its funding expected from OpenAI’s ventures arm.
Altman, who launched OpenAI alongside Musk in 2015 before Musk left its board in 2018, will partner with Alex Blania, the founder of the eyeball-scanning ID project World, another Altman-backed initiative. While Altman will help establish Merge Labs, he will not take on a day-to-day operational role. The company’s name refers to the Silicon Valley concept of “the merge,” predicting a future convergence between humans and machines—a shift Altman has suggested could begin as early as 2025.
Merge Labs joins a growing race to develop commercially viable brain-computer interfaces, a technology expected to see rapid advancement as artificial intelligence evolves. Neuralink, founded by Musk in 2016, recently secured $650 million in funding at a $9 billion valuation, backed by investors including Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, and Vy Capital.
The launch of Merge Labs underscores the ongoing rivalry between Musk and Altman. Musk’s departure from OpenAI sparked years of tension, culminating in a lawsuit where Musk has attempted to challenge OpenAI’s shift from a nonprofit model. The feud deepened in 2023 when Musk founded his own AI company, xAI, to compete directly with OpenAI’s models.
Breitbart News has reported on the Musk-OpenAI legal dispute, including a court filing from Musk’s legal team claiming he “does not use a computer.” This claim appears at odds with Musk’s own X posts, where he has shared photos of his laptop and commented on his personal computer setup.
