Brain implants are beginning to help people with severe disabilities to speak and even sing in near-real time. Now, a company wants to read people’s minds and treat mental conditions without implanting electrodes deep into the brain by using ultrasound — high-frequency sound waves above the range of human hearing.
Merge Labs, which launched last month with only a vague description of its goals, is one of many companies in a booming brain–computer interface (BCI) market. What makes it stand out is US$252 million in investment from funders that include artificial-intelligence firm OpenAI, based in San Francisco, California. The start-up is being billed as a rival to Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which makes devices that detect and manipulate electrical activity in the brain and are already being trialled in patients.
Nature asked researchers who the people are behind Merge Labs and whether the company’s approach is based on solid science.
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