US directives recently forced Anthropic to restrict foreign access to its advanced Mythos 5 model. These restrictions created significant global market uncertainty despite the US later granting exemptions to specific trusted partners.
Tokyo-based startup Sakana AI responded by launching Fugu, a system that matches export-controlled US models on key benchmarks. Fugu operates as an intelligent orchestrator that combines the strengths of various existing AI models rather than building a single massive architecture.
This regulatory disruption has created a significant market opening for non-US companies. Chinese AI developers are also actively marketing their systems as reliable and accessible alternatives to restricted American technology.