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technology6h ago
OpenAI Invests in Sam Altman’s New Brain-Tech Startup Merge Labs
- OpenAI invested in Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup using ultrasound to read and modulate brain activity.
- Merge Labs plans non-implantable interfaces that use ultrasound and molecules to interact with neurons.
- Merge Labs is a spinoff of Forest Neurotech, a Los Angeles nonprofit, with Forest continuing as a nonprofit entity.
- OpenAI will collaborate on scientific foundation models and frontier tools to accelerate Merge’s progress.
- Other investors include Bain Capital and notable backers, with Merge Labs raising $252 million.
- Merge Labs is exploring applications related to mental health disorders and brain injury.
- The startup aims to create interfaces that AI can interpret and adapt to individual users.
- Merge Labs’ leadership includes researchers Mikhail Shapiro and Tyson Aflalo, among others.
- The venture is positioned alongside competitors like Neuralink and Synchron in the brain-computer interface space.
- OpenAI’s investment signals a continued push into neurotechnology and AI-enabled interfaces.
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