Sam Altman’s Brain Chip Venture Is Mulling Gene Therapy Approach
- Merge Labs is exploring the idea of genetically altering brain cells to make better implants, using an approach involving gene therapy and an ultrasound device.
- The company, which has drawn interest from Sam Altman and OpenAI, is still in early stages and could evolve significantly, according to people familiar with the plans.
- Altman said he wants to be able to think something and have ChatGPT respond to it, and is co-founding Merge Labs, with much of the company's support coming from OpenAI's ventures team.
The brain chip company that has drawn interest from Sam Altman and his artificial intelligence business OpenAI is exploring the idea of genetically altering brain cells to make better implants. The company, which has been appertained to as Merge Labs, is looking at an approach involving gene remedy that would modify brain cells, according to people familiar with the plans who were n’t authorized to speak intimately on the matter. In addition, an ultrasound device would be implanted in the head that could descry and modulate exertion in the modified cells, these people said. It’s one of a sprinkle of ideas and technologies the company has been exploring, they said. The adventure is still in early stages and could evolve significantly.
“ We have n't done that deal yet, ” Altman told intelligencers at a regale Thursday in San Francisco, pertaining to a question about a brain- computer interface adventure. “ I would like us to. ” Altman said he wants to be suitable to suppose commodity and have ChatGPT respond to it. Merge Labs is Altman’s rearmost incursion into the brain- computer interface field. He's facing off against his longtime rival, Elon Musk, whose company Neuralink is erecting brain implants with the short- term thing of treating complaint and the long- term ambition of perfecting mortal capacities.
OpenAI declined to note. Brain- computer interface companies aim to make bias that connect computers to smarts and compound peoples’ cognition. Implants are presently enabling paralyzed cases to control electronics and helping people communicate who are unfit to talk. Technology billionaires and investors are also auspicious that noninvasive bias worn outside of the head could treat internal health conditions.
The Financial Times reported this week that Merge is aiming to raise$ 250 million at an$ 850 million valuation. important of that support will come from OpenAI’s gambles platoon, according to the report. Altman isco-founding the company but not tête-à-tête investing in it, according to the Financial Times.
Altman has also invested in Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain implant incipiency. Neuralink, along with several other companies, is developing chips that communicate with the brain using electrical signals, not ultrasound. For times, experimenters have been studying how to genetically change cells to make them respond to ultrasound, a field called sonogenetics. The idea Merge is considering to combine ultrasound with gene remedy could take times, some of the people said.
Ultrasound has attracted significant attention lately as a possible brain remedy. Other companies are exploring the idea of using ultrasound transmitters outside the brain to massage brain towel, with the thing of treating psychiatric conditions. That kind of technology has shown pledge in exploration studies. Coinbaseco-founder Fred Ehrsam’s company Nudge, which is aiming to make a helmet that beams low- intensity concentrated ultrasound into the brain, lately raised$ 100 million. LinkedInco-founder Reid Hoffman is leading a$ 12 million backing round in a analogous company.
