Sam Altman's next startup eyes using sound waves to read your brain (www.theverge.com)

Sam Altman is launching a new brain-computer interface startup called Merge Labs with co-founder Alex Blania and has recruited Caltech biomolecular engineer Mikhail Shapiro as a founding technical lead. The company is reportedly in talks to raise hundreds of millions from investors including OpenAI. Shapiro’s Caltech lab has pioneered noninvasive neural imaging and control techniques that use ultrasound (and magnetic fields) and gene therapy to make cells responsive to sound, signaling Merge will pursue a fundamentally different, far less invasive approach than electrode-based systems like Neuralink. Technically, the plan appears to center on delivering genes that render neurons detectable and controllable by focused ultrasound, enabling read/write interactions without open‑skull surgery. If successful, that could offer a path to higher adoption and lower surgical risk, with potential applications from assistive communication to direct AI integration. Major hurdles remain: safe and targeted gene delivery, specificity and resolution of ultrasound neuromodulation, long‑term safety and regulatory approval, and ethical concerns about neural modification. Still, the move spotlights a growing shift in BCI research toward biomolecular and noninvasive modalities that could change tradeoffs between capability and risk in neurotechnology.