The Rundown Trust: Sam Altman recruits top scientist to read minds

MERGE LABS🧠 Sam Altman recruits top scientist to read mindsImage source: Ideogram / The Rundown



The Rundown: Sam Altman just tapped Caltech biomolecular engineer Mikhail Shapiro to join the founding team of Merge Labs and help lead investor talks for the soon‑to‑launch brain‑computer interface startup alongside co‑founder Alex Blania.

The details: Merge is actively fundraising, aiming to pull in hundreds of millions, with backing expected from OpenAI and other heavy hitters.The hire points to a non‑invasive, ultrasound‑first BCI approach that could use gene‑encoded acoustic reporters to make neurons readable by sound waves.

Set to rival Neuralink, Merge emphasizes “sensing over surgery.” Product specifics remain secret, but an official announcement is expected soon. Altman says he favors a “read-only” interface: think querying your brain and getting a ChatGPT-style response, without implanted electrodes.

Why it matters: Neuralink is already helping paralyzed patients control computers with implanted chips. But Merge may be betting on a different endgame: why go invasive when you can read brains via sound waves? If it works — a big if — we get brain interfaces without the surgery.
SAMSUNG/NVIDIA🔥 Samsung’s ‘AI megafactory’ with Nvidia GPUsImage source: Wikimedia CommonsThe Rundown: Samsung is acquiring a 50K-GPU Nvidia cluster to supercharge its chip manufacturing capabilities for mobile devices and robotics, in a massive infrastructure play that signals AI’s expanding role in semiconductor production.The details:The GPU array will power what Samsung calls an “AI Megafactory,” though the company hasn’t disclosed when it goes live.Samsung will co-develop its fourth-gen high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) with Nvidia, tuning it specifically for AI accelerators.The partnership follows Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s announcement of deals with Palantir, Eli Lilly, CrowdStrike, and Uber on Thursday.The move cements Nvidia’s dominance in AI compute as chipmakers scramble to embed machine learning into every layer of the stack.Why it matters: Samsung essentially plans to use a giant Nvidia‑powered AI system to catch defects and tune its chip-making process in real time, enabling better and faster production.​ The deal also tightens Nvidia’s grip on the stack as it just crossed a $5T market cap, the first company ever to hit that threshold.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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