Sam Altman would have launched a brain rival startup to compete to compete with Musk’s Neuralink

The rivalry between Sam Altman and Elon Musk is about to become stranger.

So far, the two have argued on which the company has the most advanced AI models. But soon, they could fight to prove who makes the best implants of the brain chip.

The Financial Times has reported, citing anonymous sources, that the CEO of Openai, Sam Altman, works on the co -foundation of a new brain chip startup called Merge Labs. The company will develop what is called a brain interface (BCI). The BCIS works by setting up tiny electrodes that can read neural signals in or near the brain. The main objective of these devices is to allow humans to control digital devices with their thoughts.

Merge Labs would have collected funds to an evaluation of $ 850 million, most of the funding should come from the OPENAI start -up fund, according to the Financial Times. Altman will help launch the business alongside Alex Blania, manager of World ID, a digital identification startup sweeping the eye also supported by Openai. Although Altman is co-founder, he should not be involved in his daily operations.

The new company will compete with the Chips start-up of the brain of Elon Musk Neurup. Altman would bet that AI can give its chips an advantage over existing competitors.

Openai did not immediately respond to a request for comments from Gizmodo.

The name of the company seems to find a 2017 article on the personal blog of Altman. He described “fusion” there, the year when humans and machines would merge into one. At the time, he noted that most of the predictions for this moment went from 2025 to 2075, but he argued that she had already started with social media algorithms influencing the way people think and feel.

“Fusion can take many forms: we could connect electrodes to our brain, or we could all become very close friends with a chatbot,” wrote Altman.

He added: “Although the merger has already started, it will become much stranger. We will be the first species to have designed our own descendants.”

This year, in another article, Altman wrote on a “gentle singularity”, which suggests that a breakthrough in “the real interfaces of a high -band brain computer” could be just on the horizon.

Musk’s neuralink is one step ahead. Founded in 2016, he has already received approvals from health regulators in several countries to start clinical trials. The company has established chips in at least three patients with lesions of the spinal cord or ALS. The Food and Drug Administration of the United States even granted the company designation of breakthrough devices for its technology aimed at helping people with speech and vision deficiencies.

Musk and Altman co -founded Openai, but Musk left in 2018 after clashes with Altman put a rivalry between the two. Musk has since launched a startup in competition from AI, XAI, and continued to block OpenAi’s efforts to become a for -profit business.

This week, the two boosts beards back and forth on OpenAi’s relationship with Apple and its prominent placement in the App Store.