Sam Altman launches Merge Labs brain-computer interface without surgeries

Sam Altman is preparing to announce the new startup Merge Labs. And this is a brain-computer interface that works fundamentally differently than Elon Musk’s Neuralink. Without surgery and without implants in the skull.

Key figure of the project – Mikhail Shapiro, biomolecular engineer from Caltech. His lab specializes in non-invasive techniques for working with the brain. Research focus – ultrasound and gene therapy instead of electrodes in brain tissue.

How does this work? Instead of implanting chips in the head, Shapiro proposes to modify cells through gene therapy so they respond to ultrasound waves. Sound waves penetrate through the skull, cells respond to them, data is read from outside. The skull remains intact.

Shapiro believes it’s simpler and safer to introduce genes into cells than to stick electrodes directly into brain tissue. And all his work is aimed at creating less invasive ways to interact with neurons.

And now the most interesting thing. Altman publicly criticized Neuralink’s approach. He stated he would “definitely not implant a device in his brain that kills neurons, as Musk’s interface does”.

His goal sounds simpler: imagine something mentally – and get a response from ChatGPT. Possibly in read-only mode. No writing to the brain, no consciousness modification. Just an interface for reading neural activity and transmitting it to AI.

Currently Merge Labs expects to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. And Altman will become chairman but won’t manage the company daily.