Musk–Altman Battle Heats Up With OpenAI’s Reported $850M Bet On Neuralink Competitor

OpenAI and co-founder Sam Altman are reportedly set to back a startup that would compete with Elon Musk’s Neuralink.

According to a report by the Financial Times, the company in question is Merge Labs. It is seeking funds at an $850 million valuation, with OpenAI’s ventures team expected to provide the bulk of the capital. While Altman will not be personally investing in the company, he will be one of the co-founders, the report stated. However, it added that he may not be involved in the new entity’s day-to-day operations. 

Insiders told the publication that Altman supports the investment. The report said that the OpenAI CEO plans to launch the project alongside Alex Bania, who runs World, a retina-scanning digital ID project, which Altman also backs.

It noted that the new startup aims to build brain-computer interfaces, which would put it in direct competition against Musk’s Neuralink. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around OpenAI was in ‘extremely bullish’ territory, while retail sentiment around Musk’s Neuralink was in the ‘extremely bearish’ zone.

The two billionaires have already been at odds of late, with Musk claiming on Monday that Apple (AAP) was biased toward OpenAI, making it “impossible” for other AI apps like xAI’s Grok to move up in the App Store’s rankings. 

"Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation," Musk wrote on X. "XAI will take immediate legal action." xAI's Grok app currently sits in fifth position on the Apple App Store's top free apps chart, four spots away from ChatGPT. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around xAI was in 'bullish' territory at the time of writing.

The pair co-founded OpenAI, though Musk exited the board in 2018 following disputes with Altman. The split sparked a bitter rivalry between the two as they fight for leadership in AI.

Read also: Trump Tells Goldman CEO David Solomon To ‘Focus On Being a DJ’ Over ‘Bad’ Tariff Predictions

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