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Just when you thought the circular deals couldn’t get any more circular, OpenAI has invested in CEO Sam Altman’s brain computer interface startup Merge Labs.
Merge Labs, which defines itself as a “research lab” dedicated to “bridging biological and artificial intelligence to maximize human ability,” came out of stealth on Thursday with an undisclosed seed round. A source familiar with the matter confirmed previous reports that OpenAI wrote the largest single check in Merge Labs’s $250 million seed round at a $850 million valuation.
“Our individual experience of the world arises from billions of active neurons,” reads a statement from Merge Labs. “If we can interface with these neurons at scale, we could restore lost abilities, support healthier brain states, deepen our connection with each other, and expand what we can imagine and create alongside advanced AI.”
Merge Labs said it intends to reach these feats non-invasively by developing “entirely new technologies that connect with neurons using molecules instead of electrodes” to “transit and receive information using deep-reaching modalities like ultrasound.”
The move deepens Altman’s competition with Elon Musk, whose own startup Neuralink is also developing computer interface chips that allow people who suffer from severe paralysis to control devices with their thoughts. Neuralink currently requires invasive surgery for implantation, where a surgical robot removes a small piece of skull and inserts ultra-fine electrode threads into the brain to read neural signals. The company last raised a $650 million Series E at a $9 billion validation in June 2025.
While there are undoubtedly medical use cases for BCIs, Merge Labs seems more focused on using the technology to fulfill a Silicon Valley fantasy of combining human biology with AI to give us superhuman capabilities.
“Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) are an important new frontier,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post. “They open new ways to communicate, learn, and interact with technology. BCIs will create a natural, human-centered way for anyone to seamlessly interact with AI. This is why OpenAI is participating in Merge Labs’ seed round.”
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Aside from Altman, other co-founders include Alex Blania and Sandro Herbig, respectively CEO and product and engineering lead at Tools for Humanity, another Altman-backed company (and creator of the eye-scanning World orbs); Tyson Aflalo and Sumner Norman, co-founders of implantable neural tech company Forest Neurotech; and Mikhail Shapiro, a researcher at Caltech.
As part of the deal, OpenAI will work with Merge Labs on scientific foundation models and other frontier tools to “accelerate progress.” In its blog post, OpenAI noted that AI will not only help accelerate R&D in bioengineering, neuroscience, and device engineering, but that the interfaces will also benefit from AI operating systems that “can interpret intent, adapt to individuals, and operate reliably with limited and noisy signals.”
In other words, Merge Labs could function as a remote control for OpenAI’s software. That leads into the circular nature of the deal: if Merge Labs succeeds, it could drive more users to OpenAI, which then justifies OpenAI’s investment into the company. It also increases the value of a startup Altman owns using resources from a company he runs.
OpenAI is also working with Jony Ive’s startup io, which it acquired last year, to produce a piece of AI hardware that doesn’t rely on a screen. Recent unconfirmed leaks suggest the device might be an earbud.
OpenAI primarily invests through the OpenAI Startup Fund, which has invested in several other startups connected to Altman, including Red Queen Bio, Rain AI, and Harvey. OpenAI has also entered into commercial agreements with startups Altman personally owns or chairs, including nuclear fusion startup Helion Energy and nuclear fission company Oklo.
Altman has been dreaming about the so-called “Merge” – the idea that humans and machines will merge – since at least 2017 when he published a blog post guessing it would happen somewhere between 2025 and 2075. He also speculated that the merge could take many forms, including plugging electrons into our brains or becoming “really close friends with a chatbot.”
He said a merge is our “best-case scenario” for humanity surviving against superintelligence AI, which he describes as a separate species that’s in conflict with humans.
“Although the merge has already begun, it’s going to get a lot weirder,” Altman wrote. “We will be the first species ever to design our own descendants. My guess is that we can either be the biological bootloader for digital intelligence and then fade into an evolutionary tree branch, or we can figure out what a successful merge looks like.”
TechCrunch has reached out to OpenAI and Merge Labs for more information.
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Rebecca Bellan
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