Sam Altman vs. Elon Musk: Brain-Computer Startup Showdown
- New Venture: Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) is reportedly co-founding Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup. Sources say OpenAI’s ventures arm may provide much of the capital, though the deal isn’t final. Early valuation target: ~$850M.
- Who’s Involved:
• Altman, leveraging his OpenAI network.
• Alex Blania (Tools for Humanity, ex-Worldcoin), bringing digital ID / “proof of human” tech to the table.- Competition: Neuralink, Elon Musk’s BCI company (founded 2016, revealed 2017), is already in clinical trials with paralyzed patients. It raised $600M Series E in June at a $9B valuation.
- Bigger Picture:
• Both companies aim at the “merge” between humans and machines, potentially accelerating toward the so-called singularity.
• Altman blogged in 2017: “The merge has already begun… we will be the first species to design our own descendants.”
• The rivalry follows years of public feuds after Musk’s 2018 exit from OpenAI.- Status: Talks are early, no official announcement, and OpenAI declined comment. But if confirmed, this sets up a direct Altman vs. Musk battle over the future of human-AI integration.
GPT-5
Maybe but at least with the UN we already have the easiest provenance dataset imaginable: all the “leaders” in one room on record. Provenance isn’t the hard part there… trust still is. I don’t see those same leaders submitting to the will of headsets, not even with their own people.