The Trump Administration's ban on global access to advanced AI models has directly spurred the development of rival national technologies, signaling an accelerating erosion of Western technological sovereignty and control over critical digital infrastructure. This policy, in effect for two weeks, has prompted immediate responses from nations seeking to secure their own digital futures.
Chinese cybersecurity firm 360 reportedly unveiled Tulongfeng, an AI tool it claims can compete with Anthropic’s Mythos, directly challenging the US-imposed restrictions.
Earlier the same week, Tokyo-based Sakana AI launched Fugu, a model named after the Japanese word for blowfish, which the company states “stands shoulder-to-shoulder with leading models like Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos Preview.”
Sakana AI explicitly advertises its frontier AI model as “delivering frontier capability without the risk of export controls,” highlighting a direct response to the tightening grip of international regulations.
The company, co-founded in 2023 by former Google researchers Ren Ito, Llion Jones, and David Ha, focuses on generative AI models optimized for the Japanese language and culture, catering to specific national identity needs.
Sakana is targeting Fugu at Japanese businesses and government agencies aiming to reduce their exposure to tightening export controls, prioritizing national resilience over reliance on foreign providers.
China’s 360 firm also reportedly unveiled Yitianzhen, an AI tool built to automate cyber defense and incident response, further solidifying national capabilities in critical security domains.
According to Reuters, 360’s founder Zhou Hongyi described vulnerability-finding AI as a national strategic asset, emphasizing the imperative for sovereign control over such technology.
Zhou Hongyi flagged what he called the risk of “one-way transparency,” a situation where some actors could access advanced vulnerability-detection capabilities while others could not, underscoring concerns about unequal power distribution.
The Globalist Mechanism
Sakana co-founder Ren Ito, in an op-ed published in Project Syndicate last week, urged the US federal government to consider that its “first priority should be to preserve access” for America’s closest allies.
Ito argued that “AI should not become a technology that is hoarded; it should be one that is developed together,” advocating for a shared, post-national approach to critical technological assets.
These remarks align with discussions at the G7 summit in Evian last week, where AI access and export controls were central topics, indicating a coordinated push for globalized technology governance.
Despite these calls for collective development, Sakana’s spokesperson maintained that “U.S. models remain important to Asia,” characterizing the current moment as a temporary phase rather than a “permanent realignment toward any one set of players.”
The Cost of Dependence
David Ha, co-founder and CEO of Sakana, stated that relying on a single provider for national infrastructure is a risk that recent export controls have made impossible to ignore.
Ha warned that “Access to top models can disappear overnight,” highlighting the precarious position of nations dependent on external technological gatekeepers.
He further advocated for “Collective intelligence” as the “practical hedge against this concentration of power,” suggesting a distributed model that could dilute national control.
Anthropic, the US AI lab whose models are now restricted, had reported its run-rate revenue crossed $47 billion in May 2026, demonstrating the significant economic stakes involved in global AI dominance.
In the two weeks since the export order took effect, at least two companies, one in Tokyo and one in Beijing, have stepped into the space it left behind, rapidly filling the void created by Western policy.
Local alternatives, trained to better understand local language and nuance, are already filling the gap, even if US companies could theoretically regain trust should the ban ever end.