Altman wants your brain online

PLUS: Samsung's 'AI megafactory'

AuthorAuthor

Jennifer Mossalgue & Rowan Cheung
October 31, 2025

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Sam Altman just recruited Caltech bioengineer Mikhail Shapiro for a stealthy new brain-computer interface startup.

Merge Labs wants a "read-only" neural interface — no scalpels, no surgery — that decodes your brain from the outside. Are we about to start Googling our own thoughts?

In today’s tech rundown:

  • Sam Altman recruits top scientist to read minds

  • Samsung’s ‘AI megafactory’ with Nvidia GPUs

  • $1B supercomputers target cancer breakthroughs

  • Palantir sues ex-engineers over trade secrets

  • Quick hits on other tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

MERGE LABS

Image 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

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The 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.

AMD

Image source: AMD

The Rundown: The U.S. is betting $1B that two AMD‑powered AI supercomputers — Lux and Discovery — can jump‑start cancer breakthroughs by simulating drugs and treatments at national‑lab scale, compressing what takes years into mere weeks.

The details:

  • Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the machines could help turn many cancers from terminal to manageable conditions within five to eight years.

  • The supercomputers will also tackle fusion energy, with Lux coming online in six months and Discovery ready by 2029.

  • Both systems will run on AMD's next-generation Instinct AI accelerators, a rare high-profile win against Nvidia's stranglehold on AI infrastructure.

  • Beyond cancer and fusion, the supercomputers will accelerate nuclear weapons simulations, materials science, and climate modeling.

Why it matters: This is Uncle Sam treating AI compute like a Manhattan Project for the 21st century — national security and moonshot science, not just chatbots. The real test: can exascale AI actually solve humanity’s hardest problems, or just show them in sharper detail?

PALANTIR

Image source: Upsplash

The Rundown: Palantir just filed a lawsuit against ex-engineers Radha Jain and Joanna Cohen, accusing them of stealing trade secrets to power Percepta, a General Catalyst–backed “copycat” AI startup.

The details:

  • According to the complaint, Jain and Cohen breached multiple post-employment agreements, including confidentiality clauses.

  • Palantir says they took its “crown jewels” — source code and client data — with one employee reportedly Slacking herself confidential files right after resigning.

  • Percepta has allegedly hired at least 10 former Palantir employees, with nearly half of its staff coming from the company.

  • The complaint claims that the hires gave Percepta an illegal shortcut to replicate years of proprietary development.

Why it matters: The case — part of a growing wave of tech firms suing ex-employees — could redefine how fiercely companies guard their AI secrets amid the startup gold rush. It also exposes how easily hard-won expertise can walk out the door, blurring the line between innovation and imitation.

QUICK HITS

Microsoft’s Azure suffered a global outage a week after AWS’s meltdown, due to an Azure Front Door misconfiguration and DNS issues.

Apple forecasts a blockbuster holiday quarter, fueled by surging iPhone 17 demand and sales set to top Wall Street expectations.

Chipmaker Intel is in talks to acquire Palo Alto-based AI processor maker SambaNova, Bloomberg reports.

Meta Platforms drew a record ~$125B in orders for its corporate bond sale, and the announcement sent its shares up as much as 13% during Thursday’s session.

GM is cutting more than 1.7K EV and battery jobs across Michigan and Tennessee, including 1.2K at Detroit’s Factory ZERO and about 700 furloughs at its Spring Hill plant.

Nvidia is reportedly set to invest $500M to $1B in AI startup Poolside as part of a $2B round at a $12B valuation, per Bloomberg.

Tesla recalled more than 6K Cybertrucks over an off‑road light bar that can detach and raise crash risk — the pickup’s 10th recall since its late‑2023 debut.

YouTube is reportedly offering a voluntary exit program with severance to U.S.-based employees, as part of a broader product reorganization.

Stockholm’s Legora snagged $150M at a $1.8B valuation to scale its AI copilot for lawyers across 40+ markets and marquee firms.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on an earnings call that this week’s 14K job cuts were not AI-driven but about stripping layers after pandemic overhiring.

Netflix has globally revamped kids’ TV profiles with a simplified homepage, real‑time recommendations, and a new top “My Netflix” hub, mirroring the adult profile redesign.

COMMUNITY

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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team

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