OpenAI is in advanced discussions to invest in Merge Labs, a start-up that plans to build high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces designed to rival Elon Musk’s Neuralink, according to information shared with the Financial Times. Merge Labs aims to raise about $250 million at a valuation of roughly $850 million. OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman will be listed as a co-founder alongside former Neuralink executive Alex Blania, but Altman will not take a day-to-day role or provide personal capital; most of the financing is expected to come through OpenAI’s venture arm. The move intensifies the long-running competition between Altman and Musk, who jointly launched OpenAI in 2015 before parting ways. It also underscores surging investor appetite for brain-computer interface technology, which advocates say could eventually treat neurological disorders and broaden human–machine interaction.