OpenAI, having invested heavily in artificial intelligence, is placing a side bet on organic intelligence.
The launderer of training data is participating in the funding of Merge Labs, a maker of brain computer interfaces.
"Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) are an important new frontier," the AI biz said on Thursday. "They open new ways to communicate, learn, and interact with technology. BCIs will create a natural, human-centered way for anyone to seamlessly interact with AI. This is why OpenAI is participating in Merge Labs' seed round."
The fact that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is a co-founder of Merge Labs may also have something to do with OpenAI's participation.
OpenAI did not disclose the amount of its investment, a portion of the $252 million seed round that also came from investors including Bain Capital and Gabe Newell, co-founder and CEO of Valve. But its financial infusion is inconsequential in light of OpenAI's $1.4 trillion in infrastructure commitments over the next eight years.
Morgan Stanley in October 2024 estimated that the total addressable market for BCIs is around $400 billion just in the US, largely for medical applications focused on people with limb impairment or neurological conditions.
That possibility has spurred competition among a variety of companies, including Neuralink, Paradromics, Synaptrix Labs, and Synchron, to develop the technology, in both invasive and non-invasive forms.
Thomas Oxley, CEO of Synchron, has suggested that while BCI makers are expected to focus on the healthcare market in the near-term, further out there may be opportunities to make BCIs available for consumer, workplace, and military applications – presumably without going under the knife.
Merge Labs says that its focus is not restricted to medical applications, citing its intention to make BCIs available to anyone.
"We envision future BCIs that are equal parts biology, device, and AI in a form factor that we ourselves want to use and is broadly accessible," the company explains on its website.
The brain tech biz intends to focus on interfacing with neurons using molecules rather than electrodes, and handling data transmission via ultrasound to avoid the need for implantation in tissue. Those longing to try an AI-enabled BCI for gaming, office work, or directing killer drones may want to wait to see whether the integrated machine learning will be any more reliable than current disclaimer-encumbered AI services.
Ambitious technological transformations don't always work out. Shortly before changing its name to Meta in 2021, Facebook said it was shifting away from BCI research to focus on wrist-based electromyography (EMG) for wrist-band controllers. Facebook Reality Labs in 2017 launched a BCI project to let people type with thought, supporting that effort in 2019 with the purchase of neural interface startup CTRL-Labs.
Merge Labs concedes the project may take "decades rather than years."
That may be more time than OpenAI has, given its current financial obligations and a revenue outlook that looks unlikely to meet those commitments any time soon.
According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI is expected to deliver an operating loss of $74 billion in 2028 before finally turning a profit in 2030. And if OpenAI is to follow through on its $1.4 trillion in infrastructure bets, it's likely to require further funding. Hence speculation that OpenAI may end up being acquired by Amazon or Microsoft.
But OpenAI appears to see a long runway. The biz also put out a Request for Proposals [PDF], seeking "strategic US partners who can scale advanced manufacturing in support of OpenAI hardware programs in consumer electronics, AI datacenters, and robotics, aligned with long-term US industrial goals and OpenAI commercial roadmaps."
OpenAI says that over the next ten years, it aims to localize much of its manufacturing for hardware devices and data centers. Vendor selection isn't anticipated until March 2027.
The AI biz is also working on its own silicon with the help of Broadcom and a consumer hardware device with input from former Apple chief designer Jony Ive. It would be surprising if either shipped this year. ®
Source: The register