OpenAI Invests in AI Startup Merge Labs
OpenAI is leading a major investment in Merge Labs, a Bay Area AI startup, at an $850 million valuation. The move is intended to strengthen OpenAI's position in scalable AI infrastructure. This investment highlights a robust funding and M&A environment for AI companies in San Francisco.
- The investment is part of a roughly $252 million seed funding round with OpenAI as the lead investor; other backers include Bain Capital and Valve's Gabe Newell. - Merge Labs is developing non-invasive brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that use molecules instead of electrodes and deep-reaching modalities like ultrasound, avoiding the need for surgical implants into brain tissue. - This approach, based on a field called sonogenetics, involves genetically modifying brain cells to make them responsive to ultrasound waves. - The company was co-founded by researchers Mikhail Shapiro, Tyson Aflalo, and Sumner Norman, along with technology entrepreneurs Alex Blania, Sandro Herbig, and OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman in a personal capacity. - Merge Labs is positioned as a competitor to Elon Musk's Neuralink but is initially focused on a less invasive technology with a long-term goal of human-AI integration beyond just medical applications. - OpenAI plans to collaborate with Merge Labs on developing scientific foundation models and AI operating systems that can interpret neural signals, turning them into actionable intent for AI systems. - The Bay Area, where Merge Labs is based, attracted over 50% of all global funding for AI startups in 2023, totaling $27 billion.
