Altman's brain computer startup

Welcome back, Superhuman. Sam Altman is launching his own brain-computer interface (BCI) startup called Merge Labs. The Neuralink competitor just closed a $252 million seed round — and you’ll never guess who the lead investor was.

Today: Merge Labs gets funding, learn how to use Claude Cowork to perform non-technical tasks, and get the latest prompts and trending social posts.

TODAY IN AI

1. OpenAI backs Sam Altman's brain-computer interface (BCI) startup, also launches ChatGPT Translate: The AI giant recently invested in Merge Labs, a new BCI company co-founded by Altman, reportedly writing the largest check in its $250 million seed round. Merge Labs’ goal is to “bridge biological and artificial intelligence to maximize human ability, agency, and experience” — with this 2017 blog post providing more context on the company name. Separately, OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT Translate, a standalone tool supporting 50+ languages that lets users adjust tone and context after translating. Try it here. 

2. Openwork launches open-source alternative to Claude Cowork: A team of developers just released Openwork, a free computer-use AI agent that lives on your desktop. The tool claims to be 4x faster than Claude for Chrome and more secure by running in an isolated browser, reducing the risk of prompt injection attacks. Openwork is free, 100% open-source, and available now on macOS. Try it here or watch it in action.

3. Google releases MedGemma 1.5 as AI giants race into healthcare: The search giant recently launched an open-source medical AI model capable of interpreting 3D CT scans, MRIs, and histopathology slides — a first for any publicly available model. The release comes as healthcare AI heats up, with OpenAI recently launching ChatGPT Health and Anthropic rolling out Claude for Healthcare.

PRESENTED BY YOU. COM

Tinkering with prompts can only get you so far

Most companies get stuck tinkering with prompts and wonder why their agents fail to deliver dependable results. This guide from You. com breaks down the evolution of agent management, revealing the five stages for building a successful AI agent and why most organizations haven’t gotten there yet.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• Why prompts alone aren’t enough and how context and metadata unlock reliable agent automation

• Four essential ways to calculate ROI, plus when and how to use each metric

• Real-world challenges at each stage of agent management and how to avoid them

If you're ready to go beyond the prompt, this is the playbook for you.

FROM THE FRONTIER

AI startups are minting money faster than ever — but can they outrun their costs?

The revenue boom. AI startups are generating revenue at a pace that would've seemed absurd two years ago. ElevenLabs just recently crossed $330M in annual recurring revenue (ARR), joining Lovable ($200M ARR) and Cursor ($1B ARR) as some of the fastest-growing startups in history. But revenue only tells half the story.

The cost problem. Revenue is surging — but so are losses. OpenAI reportedly expects to lose $9B in 2025, with operating losses potentially ballooning to $74B by 2028. Anthropic is burning roughly $3B annually. The startups building on top of these models face the same expensive infrastructure. So how are they staying afloat?

Investor support. In 2025, 49 different US AI startups raised $100M or more from investors, with OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI raising a combined $86.3B. Despite surging revenues, most AI startups are still raising cash as fast as they can — likely to help cover expenses.

The bottom line. 2025 proved AI startups can grow revenue faster than any software category in history. But growth isn't profit. With OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI all reportedly eyeing IPOs this year, we’ll soon find out whether these companies are building durable businesses — or just expensive ones.

THE AI ACADEMY

How to Build No-Code AI Agents for Workflows

What do AI agents actually do? And how are real teams using them to get work done?

In this tutorial video, you’ll learn:

• How no-code AI agents execute real business workflows

• What kinds of tasks agents can automate across teams

• How agents connect to tools like Stripe, Calendly, and Zendesk

• How non-technical teams build and manage agents

• How agents turn conversations into actions and insights

Watch the full tutorial here

PRESENTED BY GLEAN

Insights from 100+ leaders, technologists, and researchers

Practitioners share how to turn AI from hype to results. Get practical plays for governance, platform choices, moving from pilots to production, and proving ROI, with examples from Time, Workday, Deloitte, Zendesk, and more.

Get the report.

IN THE KNOW

What’s trending on socials and headlines today

🍌 Prompt List: Explore the 50+ best Nano Banana prompts that you can easily copy & paste into Gemini.

🔎 AI Writing: A Reddit post outlines 9 ways to spot AI writing that’s gone viral with almost 3K upvotes.

🧠 Enhancing AI: Using this conversation preference in Claude can turn it into an “ultimate reasoning machine.”

📖 ChatGPTolstoy: A viral tweet humorously accuses Leo Tolstoy of using AI in his work — even though the novelist died in 1910 (1.4M views).

PRODUCTIVITY

5 New & Trending AI Tools

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• ⏩️ Turbotic: Turn ideas into automations in minutes with AI.

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PROMPT STATION

Find your purpose with Ikigai

Prompt: I ask that you lead me through an in-depth process to uncover the raw components of my Ikigai (Purpose).

Instructions:

All questions must be completely neutral, based on visceral imagery, instinctive choice, physical sensation, or immediate preference.

Each question must be short, concrete, and require a spontaneous, one-word or short-phrase answer.

Only after the series of questions, perform a structured in-depth analysis of my Ikigai:

The Hidden Fire: What I actually love (stripped of social ego).

The Natural Utility: My instinctive "vocation" versus my trained skills.

The Unmet Need: What I am subconsciously driven to solve for the world.

The Value Core: Where my internal fulfillment meets external reality.

The 2026 Synthesis: A direct, unsoftened profile of the person I am becoming and the specific "Reason for Being" pulling me forward.

The analysis must be direct, authentic, and avoid "toxic positivity" or shallow coaching language.

Source: r/ChatGPTPromptGenius

Friday Fun

Whenever you’re ready to take the next step

• Check out our Top 125 AI Tools

• Get better at prompting with our Top 1,000 Prompts

• Learn how to use AI at work and get certified with our free course

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Until next time — Zain & the Superhuman AI team