Key Points:

• Sam Altman taps a leading researcher for his brain-computer interface startup, suggesting a much less invasive approach than Elon Musk’s Neuralink .
• Altman has tapped Mikhail Shapiro, an award-winning biomolecular engineer, to join the Merge Labs startup .
• Shapiro's hiring signals a lot about the technical direction Altman is taking with Merge .
• Sam Altman’s next startup eyes using sound waves to read your brain