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Altman's Merge Labs: Ultrasound Brain Tech Unveiled
20 Dec, 2025
Summary
- Sam Altman's new startup, Merge Labs, uses ultrasound for brain activity.
- Merge Labs is being spun out from Forest Neurotech, a nonprofit.
- The company aims to meld humans with machines, a concept Altman discussed.
Sam Altman's latest venture, Merge Labs, is set to revolutionize brain-computer interfaces (BCI) by leveraging ultrasound technology. This stealth-mode startup is emerging from the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Forest Neurotech, with Altman himself as a cofounder. The company's focus on ultrasound offers a novel approach to reading brain activity, potentially accelerating the integration of humans and machines.
Merge Labs was cofounded by Forest Neurotech's CEO Sumner Norman and chief scientific officer Tyson Aflalo, alongside Altman. The company's name, "Merge Labs," directly references Altman's vision of "the merge" – the point at which humans and artificial intelligence fundamentally combine. This concept, which Altman has predicted could occur as early as 2025, positions Merge Labs at the forefront of BCI innovation.
As a focused research organization, Forest Neurotech has been developing ultrasound-based BCIs for several years, launching in 2023 from the philanthropic incubator Convergent Research. Merge Labs now enters a competitive landscape, joining companies like Neuralink, and benefiting from recent advancements in AI and signal recording hardware that have made BCIs more commercially viable.
