
According to Financial Times, Sam altman ( CEO OpenAI) is co-founder of the startup Merge Labs, which specializes in developing technology to connect the human brain to computers. This project can be valued at about 850 million USD.
Merge Labs is calling for capital, likely with the majority of the funding coming from OpenAI-related investment funds. However, the negotiations are still in the early stages and there is no formal agreement. Merge Labs is also said to be collaborating with Alex Blania - CEO of Tools for Humanity, an eye-scan digital recognition project initiated by altman.
This startup will compete directly with Neuralink - a company founded by Elon Musk in 2016, currently testing chip transplants into the brain to help paralyzed people control devices using thinking. Neuralink raised $600 million in June, raising its valuation to $9 billion.
Experts say technologies like Neuralink or Merge Labs can change the way people interact with machines, even getting closer to a strange point - the moment when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence or blends with humans.
It is not yet clear when Merge Labs will officially launch, but according to experts, altman will not let Musk alone lead in this field.