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Investing.com-- OpenAI and co-founder Sam Altman are planning to back a start-up that intends to compete with Elon Musk’s Neuralink in building a brain-computer interface, a host of reports showed on Tuesday.
The start-up is called Merge Labs, and is raising funds at a $850 million valuation, with a bulk of new capital expected to come from OpenAI, the Financial Times reported.
The Information reported that Merge is in early talks to raise $250 million at an $850 million valuation.
Altman will help launch the project alongside Alex Blania, the FT reported.
The reports highlight an increasing, bitter rivalry between Musk and Altman, who have repeatedly clashed on social media amid disagreements over artificial intelligence.
Increased investment in brain-computer interfaces, which could allow one to control electronic devices with their minds, also comes amid bets that artificial intelligence will help improve the technology.
Musk’s Neuralink is currently seen leading the race to develop the technology, having earlier this year raised $650 million at a $9 billion valuation. The company claimed to have successfully implanted a device in a human patient in 2024, but has faced criticism over its apparently blatant flouting of scientific and ethical norms.
Reports of the Neuralink rival also come shortly after Musk and Altman once again clashed on social media, this time sparring over alleged antitrust practices on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Inc’s App Store.
Musk and Altman had co-founded OpenAI, but are now fierce competitors after Musk left the firm and started his own AI venture– xAI– in 2023. Both OpenAI and xAI released their most powerful AI models in August.