Asian AI startups launch Mythos-like models as Anthropic’s export ban drags on
TL;DR
China’s cybersecurity company 360 unveiled Tulongfeng, an AI tool for automated vulnerability discovery that it says can compete with Anthropic’s Mythos. Tokyo-based Sakana AI launched Fugu, a frontier model focused on agent orchestration and positioned as comparable to Fable 5 and Mythos Preview. Both launches land while the U.S. government restricts Anthropic’s global access to Mythos and Fable. Sakana says the timing is coincidental but is clearly using the export-control angle.
Nauti's Take
This is less a sudden win for Asian AI startups than a lesson in platform risk. Sakana is smartly selling Fugu as a hedge, not a full replacement, while 360 is framing its tools in much harder national-strategy terms.
The real question is not whether these models already match Mythos today. What matters is that customers now have a concrete reason to reduce dependence on a single U.
S. provider.
Briefingshow
Export controls are not just a compliance issue; they are a market signal. If companies and governments in Asia see that access to top U. S.
models can vanish overnight, local alternatives become more attractive. Even if Mythos access returns later, trust is harder to rebuild than attention.
Sources