Hi Dotikers!

OpenAI just led a $252 million funding round into Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup. Here's the kicker: Merge Labs was co-founded by Sam Altman, who also happens to be OpenAI's CEO. So Altman just funneled his own company's cash into a venture he created. Silicon Valley has pulled off some creative moves, but this one takes the cake.

Merge Labs wants to connect brains to AI without surgery, using ultrasound and genetically engineered molecules. Bold vision. One small problem: the technology doesn't exist yet. No prototype. No patients. Just scientific ambition and an $850 million valuation. Meanwhile, Neuralink has already implanted a dozen patients and Synchron is gearing up for large-scale clinical trials.

The conflict of interest here is so brazen it's almost performance art. Altman sits on both sides of the table: writing the checks and depositing them. His defenders note he won't personally pocket anything from this deal and owns zero OpenAI equity. Fine. But when the same person runs the world's most powerful AI company and co-founds the startup aiming to wire it directly into our brains, governance questions aren't just fair game—they're unavoidable.

Beyond the money, it's the collision of AI and neural data that should give us pause. Brain interfaces don't just track movements. They capture intentions, emotions, mental states. Handing that data to an AI company opens a chapter in privacy we've never seen before.

Sam Altman wants to merge humans with machines. Give him credit: he's starting by merging his own interests.

M.