OpenAI has invested in Merge Labs, a new brain computer interface research company cofounded by its chief executive Sam Altman, marking an escalation in efforts to link human cognition directly with artificial intelligence.
BCIs, The Next Frontier?
The investment, confirmed by OpenAI, sees the AI company participate as the largest single backer in Merge Labs’ seed funding round, which raised around $250 million at a reported valuation of approximately $850 million. While OpenAI did not disclose the size of its individual cheque, the company said the move reflects its belief that brain computer interfaces, often shortened to BCIs, represent an important next frontier in how people interact with advanced AI systems.
Merge Labs
Merge Labs, a US-based research organisation, became publicly known in January 2026 after operating privately during its early research phase, positioning itself as a long-term lab focused on what it describes as “bridging biological and artificial intelligence to maximise human ability, agency, and experience”. The company is not targeting near-term consumer products, instead framing its work as a decades-long effort to develop new forms of non-invasive neural interfaces intended to expand how information flows between the human brain and machines.
A Circular Investment With Strategic Implications
The deal has attracted quite a bit of attention because of its circular structure. For example, Sam Altman is both the chief executive of OpenAI and a cofounder of Merge Labs, participating in the new venture in a personal capacity. However, OpenAI has been quick to confirm that Altman does not receive investment allocations from the OpenAI Startup Fund, which typically manages such investments, but the overlap has raised questions about governance, incentives, and long-term alignment.
OpenAI outlined its strategic rationale in a blog post announcing the investment, saying, “Progress in interfaces enables progress in computing”, and that “Each time people gain a more direct way to express intent, technology becomes more powerful and more useful.”
A New Way To Interact With AI
The company said brain computer interfaces “open new ways to communicate, learn, and interact with technology” and could create “a natural, human-centred way for anyone to seamlessly interact with AI”. That framing positions BCIs not primarily as medical devices, but as potential successors to keyboards, touchscreens, and voice interfaces.
Funding
Merge Labs’ funding round also included backing from Bain Capital, Interface Fund, Fifty Years, and Valve founder Gabe Newell. Seth Bannon, a founding partner at Fifty Years, said the company represents a continuation of humanity’s long effort to build tools that extend human capabilities, while Merge Labs itself has stressed that its work remains at an early research stage.
What Merge Labs Is Actually Building
Unlike many existing BCI efforts, Merge Labs is actually aiming to avoid surgically implanted devices. For example, the company says it is developing “entirely new technologies that connect with neurons using molecules instead of electrodes” and that transmit and receive information using deep-reaching modalities such as ultrasound.
In its own published materials, Merge Labs explains the motivation behind this approach. “Our individual experience of the world arises from billions of active neurons,” the company wrote. “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.”
Current BCIs typically rely on electrodes placed on the scalp or implanted directly into brain tissue. These approaches involve trade-offs between signal quality, invasiveness, safety, and long-term reliability. Merge Labs argues that scaling BCIs to be useful for broad human-AI interaction will require increases in bandwidth and brain coverage “by several orders of magnitude” while becoming significantly less invasive.
Why AI Is Central To The Approach
The company also said recent advances across biotechnology, neuroscience, hardware engineering, and machine learning have made this approach more plausible. Its stated vision is for future BCIs to be “equal parts biology, device, and AI”, with artificial intelligence playing a central role in interpreting neural signals that are inherently noisy, variable, and highly individual.
OpenAI has said it will collaborate with Merge Labs on scientific foundation models and other frontier AI tools to accelerate research, particularly in interpreting intent and adapting interfaces to individual users.
How This Compares With Neuralink
Merge Labs’ ambitions seem to place it in direct comparison with Neuralink, the brain computer interface company founded by Elon Musk. Neuralink has already implanted devices into human patients, primarily targeting people with severe paralysis who cannot speak or move.
However, Neuralink’s approach is invasive, i.e., it requires a surgical robot to remove a small portion of the skull and insert ultra-fine electrode threads into the brain. These electrodes read neural signals that are then translated into digital commands, allowing users to control computers or other devices using thought alone.
In June 2025, Neuralink raised a $650 million Series E funding round at a valuation of around $9 billion, highlighting strong investor confidence in implant-based BCIs for medical use. Musk has described Neuralink as a path towards closer human-AI integration, while also framing it as a way to reduce long-term risks from advanced artificial intelligence.
Why The Merge Labs Approach Is Different
It’s worth noting here that Merge Labs differs in both method and emphasis. For example, it is pursuing non-invasive technologies and has placed greater focus on safety, accessibility, and long-term societal impact. Its founders have said initial applications would likely focus on patients with injury or disease, before extending more broadly.
The contrast reflects a wider divide within the BCI field. For example, invasive implants currently offer clearer signals and faster progress, but carry surgical risks and ethical concerns. Non-invasive approaches reduce those risks but face substantial technical challenges in achieving sufficient bandwidth and precision.
Potential Benefits And Serious Challenges
If Merge Labs’ approach proves viable, the implications could extend beyond healthcare. High-bandwidth brain interfaces could alter how people learn, communicate, and interact with AI systems, potentially enabling more intuitive control of complex software or new forms of collaboration.
OpenAI has framed BCIs as one possible way to maintain meaningful human involvement as AI systems become more capable. Altman has previously written that closer integration between humans and machines could reduce the imbalance between human cognition and artificial intelligence, although he has also acknowledged the uncertainty involved.
At the same time, the risks are significant. For example, neural data is among the most sensitive forms of personal information, raising serious concerns around privacy, security, and consent. Misuse or coercive deployment of BCIs could present challenges that exceed those posed by existing digital technologies.
There are also unresolved scientific and regulatory questions. Accurately interpreting neural signals at scale remains difficult, and the long-term effects of repeated or continuous brain interaction are not fully understood. Regulatory frameworks for BCIs, particularly outside clinical contexts, remain limited.
Also, some critics have argued that heavy investment in cognitive enhancement technologies risks diverting attention from more immediate AI governance challenges, including labour disruption, misinformation, and the concentration of technological power.
For now, Merge Labs remains a research-focused organisation rather than a product company. Its founders have said success should be measured not by early demonstrations, but by whether it can eventually create products that are safe, privacy-preserving, and genuinely useful to people.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
OpenAI’s decision to back Merge Labs highlights how seriously some of the most influential figures in AI are now thinking about the limits of current human computer interfaces. While the technology Merge Labs is pursuing remains highly experimental and many years away from practical deployment, the investment signals a belief that future gains in AI capability may depend as much on how humans interact with systems as on the systems themselves.
For UK businesses, this matters less as an immediate technology shift and more as an early indicator of where long-term AI development is heading. If brain computer interfaces eventually become safer, scalable, and non-invasive, they could reshape how knowledge work, training, accessibility, and human decision making interact with advanced software. Sectors such as healthcare, advanced manufacturing, engineering, defence, and education would likely be among the first to feel downstream effects, while regulators and employers would face new questions around data protection, consent, and cognitive security.
At the same time, the story highlights unresolved tensions that extend beyond any single company. For example, investors are betting on radically new forms of human machine integration, while scientists and policymakers are still grappling with the ethical, medical, and societal risks involved. Whether Merge Labs ultimately succeeds or not, OpenAI’s involvement brings brain computer interfaces a little closer to the centre of the AI conversation, forcing businesses, governments, and the public to start engaging with implications that until recently sat firmly at the edge of speculative technology.