OpenAI has invested in Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface (BCI) startup co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The startup emerged from stealth on January 15 following a $252 million seed round. According to a report from TechCrunch, OpenAI was the largest single investor in the round, which has seen the company achieve a $850m valuation.

Described as a research lab, per an interview conducted by tech media startup Core Memory with co-founder Mikhail Shapiro, Merge Labs is looking to differentiate itself from other BCI companies, including Elon Musk’s Neuralink, by developing a device that can benefit multiple parts of a brain, not just the region it’s implanted in – the speech center or the motor cortex, for example.

“One of our core beliefs is that we can build brain computer interfaces that can interface with many more neurons in the brain than is possible with existing technologies in a form factor that is much less invasive than existing technologies,” said Shapiro, a professor of chemical and medical engineering at Caltech. “The idea then is that this can become a type of technology that is beneficial to many more people.”

Following the launch, OpenAI posted a blog titled ‘Investing in Merge Labs,’ in which the generative AI giant said the BCI company was “developing fundamentally new approaches⁠ to BCIs that are safe and interface with the brain at much higher bandwidth by combining biology, devices, and AI.”

It went on to state that AI will play a “central role” in Merge’s approach, allowing it to accelerate R&D in areas such as bioengineering, neuroscience, and device engineering.

“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 blog post read.

Earlier this month, OpenAI announced that, alongside SoftBank, it was investing $500 million into SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy to support the latter’s growth and development pipeline. SB Energy will build and operate the previously announced 1.2GW Stargate data center in Milam County, Texas.

In late November of last year, prior to OpenAI announcing its planned investments in SB Energy and Merge Labs, analysts from HSBC said the company would need to raise $207 billion in new funding by 2030 to pay for its AI data center expansion plan, having committed to $1.4 trillion worth of deals in the months prior.