Sumner L Norman

Ecstatic to announce Merge Labs! 🧠🚀 I’m honored to work alongside my co-founders—Tyson Aflalo, @mikhailshapiro, @sandroherbig, @alexblania, and @sama on bridging biological and artificial intelligence. They’re *the* team to take on a mission this ambitious. We’re grateful to have partners like @OpenAI who share a long-term view on what it takes to build foundational technology. If you want to work on hard, foundational neurotech problems, come build with us.

FROs have officially gone international. When do we get a spacefaring FRO? Interplanetary metascience 🚀

8.51 bits per second. No implant. No surgery. Tomás hit 8.51 BPS in a 60-second MouthPad^ benchmark using head-tracking + tongue clicks. Personal Best: 9.98 BPS. That rivals the best BCIs — at a fraction of the cost. From Tomás: "The mouthpad's a game-changer. It totally revolutionized how I use my computer."

Best thing you will see and/or read today. Honest. corememory.com/p/theyve-reviv…

@sethbannon @bolivian808 That sort of thing takes a great deal of introspection.

@bolivian808 No formal open positions, just drop a DM with what you're great at and how you think you could help.

If you want to work somewhere where introspection is considered a strength, we’re hiring.

Pls subscribe to our new RenPhil Substack, and check out my post on "Philanthropic Moonshots and How to Launch Them." open.substack.com/pub/renaissanc…

We're looking for dark matter guys.

"There is a class of companies that should exist but don’t because the economics don’t fit neatly into any existing capital structure."👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Excited to see this compelling essay from @AGamick on an entirely new category of companies that would have outsized impact.

You may have noticed some "holy $%@#" tweets on fly brain emulation. So is this a game-changer or a nothing-burger? Read on to find out...

A new book that says new methods (not theory, etc) are the drivers of scientific discovery

James has been quietly supporting some of the coolest Neuro efforts on earth* for years now. Great to see him/Amaranth sharing more on their thinking. *I'm a little bit biased :)

@PeterDiamandis Thanks Peter! We’re thrilled to be working together. Let’s merge! 人

CALLING TOP BIOENGINEERS & ML Scientists... High-Bandwidth Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is coming. MERGE LABS, founded/funded by Sam Altman, Alex Blania, Sumner Norman, and Mikhail Shapiro is recently out of stealth. Combining non-invasive ultrasound, molecular engineering, and advanced computation, the team is increasing the bandwidth between the Neocortex and digital systems. The implications for human evolution are extraordinary. Interested in working on THE most important and difficult projects humanity has to offer, please consider applying to join Merge to join their mission. APPLY HERE: merge.io/careers As a proud investor in MERGE and a supporter of the BCI field, this is an exceptionally exciting company and I look forward to seeing their progress in the years ahead.

ICYMI: Brains are trending.. OpenAI made a direct investment into Merge Labs' $252M Seed at $850M valuation @merge Labs is a Brain-Computer Interface ("BCI") research lab co-founded by Sam Altman, Alex Blania, & key frontier tech leaders (below) with expertise in neuroscience, bioengineering, hardware, AI systems, & foundational research. Unlike Elon Musk's Neuralink, which utilizes surgical implants, Merge Labs is developing non-invasive, high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). The company uses a combination of ultrasound, AI-driven signal interpretation, and potentially genetic engineering to read neural activity without surgery. Founding Team: Alex Blania (@alexblania) – Co-founder of World, an Altman-co-founded digital proof of human protocol; co-founder of Merge Labs. Sam Altman (@sama) – CEO of OpenAI; co-founder of Merge Labs participating in a personal capacity. Altman has been reported as likely to serve in a strategic role but not in day-to-day operational management of Merge Labs. Mikhail Shapiro (@mikhailshapiro) – Professor of Chemical and Medical Engineering at Caltech and founding scientific leader for Merge Labs. He has also served as an adviser to Forest Neurotech. Sumner Norman (@SumnerLN) – CEO of Forest Neurotech, a nonprofit research organization focused on ultrasound-based brain-computer interface technologies; also a co-founder of Merge Labs. Sandro Herbig (@sandroherbig) – Identified as a technology entrepreneur and co-founder of Merge Labs with prior systems and product experience, including work with Blania on Tools for Humanity and World. While specific current corporate title at Merge hasn’t been publicly detailed, he is recognized as part of the founding leadership team. Tyson Aflalo – Chief Scientific Officer of Forest Neurotech prior to Merge Labs; co-founder and technical lead at Merge Labs with expertise in neural engineering and ultrasound BCI research. . . . "It’s a direct investment from OpenAI, not their venture arm, so it’s an actual collaboration. As we were discussing the investment, there were many different dimensions where collaboration could make sense. One area is protein design. We’re working extensively with proteins, and that’s an area that’s broadly interesting to OpenAI. It’s one of the most compelling applications of AI — for example, the work Google did with AlphaFold. More broadly, AI has significant implications for biology and for accelerating that part of what we’re building. Another area is chips. Eventually, once we have a clear scientific understanding of what we’re building and how it will work, a major focus for many years will be on making these chips highly energy efficient."

I am excited that @RenPhilanthropy is partnering with Google.org on the #GoogleOrgImpactChallenge: AI for Science! This is a global open-call for teams using AI for breakthroughs in sustainability, climate resilience, and life sciences. → g.co/impactchalleng…

I keep coming back to Southern California, and it keeps solidifying its rise as the hard tech capital of the US. California should do everything in its power to make it possible for these companies to build their biggest factories here

“Brains are not just learners; they are architectures of internal teachers. We should try to find those teachers in the brain — and learn from them.” AI may have more to learn from biological intelligence. Great read from @AdamMarblestone highlighting work from @steve47285

@SergeyStavisky @aus91485 @merge @anosha_rahim @bfockter None of these make sense and it auto-posted. 🤨 Anyway, felt cute might delete later.

@SumnerLN @aus91485 @merge @anosha_rahim @bfockter 🤔👶🏻

🚀 Excited to be growing the ML team at E11 Bio! We’re looking for creative ML scientists to help us revolutionize connectomics at scale 🧠✨ In this role, you’ll design and deploy ML systems that turn massive 3D microscopy datasets into biological insight. Come strengthen our team to work on what Nature called one of 2026’s “technologies to watch.” 👉 jobs.lever.co/convergentrese…

@amyecheetham Offline mode allow for deep work to thrive. The occasional 2FA login failure is a hard stop for some workstreams, though. RIP

@SumnerLN only a feature if you have no work to do!

I will never stop believing in accomplishing a week’s worth of work on a single 5 hr flight. Never.