OpenAI’s Sam Altman is co-founding Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup that could go head-to-head with Elon Musk’s Neuralink. Meanwhile, United Launch Alliance scores a major milestone with the first Space Force–certified mission aboard its Vulcan rocket, delivering two military satellites directly into geosynchronous orbit. Miles Vega connects the dots on innovation and competition in today’s The Elon Effect.