OpenAI is investing in Sam Altman's new brain computer interface startup, MURGE Labs. This is super interesting because we, of course, know that this isn't a new area. SELON Musk has famously been working on a brain interface company, Neuralink, for quite a while. I think we've seen on X and other social media platforms some of the really interesting videos of people using this.
So I think it's becoming more familiar. And I think when this kind of Neuralink first came out, there was a lot of fear around it, essentially, the fact that, look, we really want to put a computer into our brain. How's that can impact us? I think a lot of people were like, look, random everyday people are going to be walking around with computer chips in their brain to help augment how smart they are.
And in reality, I think we've seen that it's being used by people that are paralyzed or have other challenges, whether they're not able to actually write or talk or speak or communicate or do things. And all of the sudden, this is enabling all of that. And Elon Musk recently went on and said that he believes Neuralink and other tools like this, basically, these brain computer interface startups, merged with AI are going to bring back the functionality of people to all areas of the body where they never had it before, whether that's their arms or legs if they're paralyzed. Maybe part of that is you'll have robotics arms, but you'll be able to move them by thinking about it and different things like that.
And some people think you can stimulate parts of the brain to bring back movement to paralyzed parts of your body. There's a lot of crazy science going on. There's a lot that is going to happen in the future. But with all of that, it looks like Sam Altman is getting into this race with merge labs, this new brain computer interface startup.
We're going to be talking about the deal, why opening eyes investing, how the circular deal and AI is going to play out. But before we do, I wanted to mention, if you want to create a tool without knowing how to code, an AI tool, go check out AIbox.ai. This is my own startup, a tool that I recently created, which is you can go test it out as a logo generator that makes absolutely stunning modern logos with cool gradients. you explain whatever your product is and it will create an amazing logo for you.
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You just put in a box a month, you get access to all those models plus you can build and try cool tools. So go check out AIbox.ai. All right, let's get into the state of brain computer interfaces. So this is a company called Merged Labs and they are describing themselves as a research lab.
So it's not like they have a big product that they're coming out with right away. There's definitely a research lab. But they're focused on connecting human brains directly to artificial intelligence. So it just came out of stealth.
This week, it has a massive seed round. So they didn't disclose a lot of the details about it, but sources are saying that opening eye wrote a check in this $250 million round that valued them at $850 million. So because Hemalman is involved just for basically having him involved, there is now a billion, almost a billion dollar company that is coming out of stealth. If you take a look at all of their launch materials, they have a super ambitious vision.
Basically human experience, the company says, is going to come from billions of neurons firing in the brain. I'd say if technology can connect to those neurons at scale, they're claiming that the results could be restoring abilities to people with disabilities, healthier mental states, deeper human connection, and entirely new ways to create alongside AI. Now, to be honest, it feels kind of dystopian and terrifying, especially when you have a company like OpenAI, a massive AI company interfacing directly into your brain. It no longer is, there's something about Neuralink.
I think it was really creepy at the beginning. And then it was like, well, maybe it's not that creepy, because it's not just Google inside your brain. You can just think and you can draw things without having arms. Or it's restored some functionality that you didn't have.
And for some reason, that seems normal to me. But all of a sudden, I'm like, Mergylaz, I'm sure. I'm the one that sounds crazy here. Everyone's going to think it's a super normal.
When all of a sudden you have this brain interfacing, you have ChatchuPete inside your head. And instead of going to ChatchuPete.com and asking questions, you just think of the question. And all of a sudden, your brain fills it out. It's probably going to seem normal in the future.
But that seems so dystopian and terrifying to me. I don't know. It's honestly like more to find in life. So unlike existing brain interface companies, the Mergylabs, they said that they want to avoid brain surgery altogether, which I am a huge advocate of.
I really hate putting something inside your physical brain. So instead of implementing hardware, though, they said that they're going to develop new methods that communicate with neurons using molecules, rather than electrodes. So electrodes is when you have to do surgeries. So they say that they are going to send and receive signals using things like ultrasound.
The science is still very early, but I think this kind of promise of a brain interface that works without opening up your skull is appealing to some people and maybe terrifying in other ways. I think this investment is putting some element on a really direct collision course and competition with Elon Musk, who's also building a brain computer interface. Neuralinks approach, I think, is a lot more invasive, so far it requires surgery during which a robot removes a small piece of your skull. And then they insert tiny wires into your brain to read neural signals.
Neuralink is currently focused on helping people with some really severe paralysis and it's helping them to control computers or devices using their thoughts. They have raised $650 million the last year to $9 billion valuation. And they already have some really high profile test cases where they've shown off people are actively using this and talking about it. I think while medical uses for brain interfaces are really widely acknowledged, merge labs, it looks like it's kind of more focused on a broader vision that has been really interesting to Silicon Valley.
It's been quite fascinating to them for a long time, but that vision kind of centers on blending human biology with AI to enhance intelligence. So Neuralink, it felt like it's helping people with disabilities. Whereas this feels more like a superpower AI inside of your brain. OpenAI had this really crazy blog post they put out, and they essentially were just announcing this deal and how they were going to invest in the company and stuff.
But something they said there just really was crazy to me. They're like, this is a new way for people to communicate and learn and interact with technology. The thing that was really crazy to me is they said it was a more natural and human centered interface for AI systems. Like really going straight into my brain via an ultrasound is a more natural way to interface with the AI like it's so freaking dystopian.
In any case, merge labs' founding team is I think reflecting Semaltman's kind of wider network. In addition to him, they also have leaders from Tools for Humanity, which is a company behind the eye scanning world orbs that he has, as well as founders from an implant brain technology startup and researchers from the California Institute of Technology. As part of this investment, he is planning to work closely with them on these advanced AI models and research tools. I'm sure he's just going to give them a lot of resources from OpenAI.
It's kind of like how Elon Musk is really involved with Neuralink and anytime they have a big new product announcement. It's like Elon Musk is out there doing it. It kind of gets good PR, but obviously Elon Musk isn't there day to day training the models. So I think it's going to be the same thing with Semaltman.
Right now, OpenAI is arguing that AI can speed up the progress in neuroscience and kind of like bioengineering and device design and that these kind of brain interfaces themselves are going to need AI systems capable of interpreting this messy incomplete brain signals and adopting it to individual users. If you want to put that a little bit more simply, essentially, Emerge Labs is going to eventually become a hands-free way to control opening-ized software and then it's just directed with your brain. So you're just chilling and you just think like Chad GPT, how do you XYZ and then poop pops in your head? I mean, how much of that is possible or if you're going to maybe think it and instead of it popping into your head, it's going to like pop up on your phone.
I think it's going to be interesting. I think this is where kind of the circular logic of the deal becomes really hard to ignore because if Emerge Labs is successful, it could funnel more users towards opening eyes products, which is going to reinforce the value of opening-ized investment. So at the same time, it's also going to increase the value of a startup owned by the CEO of OpeningEye, which is using the resources and credibility of the company that he runs. In any case, I'm not too mad about that element of it.
I think there's a lot of circular investing happening with all of this Silicon Valley AI companies right now. I mean, a stranger to this. I think some parts of the company are maybe more concerning to me. In any case, this is not the only hardware bet that OpeningEye is making.
If you remember, they're also working with Johnny Ives Startup I.O, which they acquired last year Emerge with or whatever, to build an AI device that's not going to just rely on screens. So you imagine a little puck that you leave on your desk and it's like a smart speaker that you talk to. I mean, they have a revealed official form factor that this is kind of where we're thinking it's going to go. Some people think that it might be more like an earbud.
But in any case, OpeningEye typically invests through its startup fund, which has backed several other companies, which connect to Sam Altman. It's also signed commercial agreements with a bunch of energy startups. Sam Altman personally owns or leads, which of course is tricky. I mean, obviously, a lot of these things are the best interest of opening eye, but they're also in Sam Altman's personal best interest when he starts a company that has his company invested in the company.
So I mean, I will leave that up to Sam Altman in the board to unravel. But one thing that's interesting is that Sam Altman has been really publicly thinking about what he calls the merge for years. In 2017 in a blog post, he predicted that humans and machines would merge into some form between 2025 and 2075. He suggested that this could be through direct brain connections or even through deep constant interaction with AI systems.
So in Sam Altman's view, merging with AI might be humanity's best chance of staying relevant in the future where artificial intelligence becomes more powerful than humans. He's framed super intelligent AI as something that's like a new species when it could end up competing with us unless we find a way to integrate with it. And this is something that was in his blog post. He wrote, quote, the merge has already begun, and it's going to get a lot stranger.
We will be the first species to design our own descendants. So whether merge labs becomes a medical breakthrough, futuristic interface, or maybe another hyped Silicon Valley experiment, I think this still remains to be seen. We're going to see what happens here. I do think that the deal is going to make one thing clear.
The push to blend human AI is no longer science fiction. It's now being funded, staffed, built by the same people that are shaping the future of AI. So it's going to be interesting. And only time will tell if Sam Altman was right and the merge has already begun.
Thanks so much for tuning into the podcast today. If you learned anything new, and if this was interesting to you, make sure to go check out aibox.ai, my own startup, where you can build AI tools and get access to the top 40 different AI models for 20 bucks a month in one place. Hope you guys all have a fantastic rest of your day.