Asian AI Startups Launch Mythos-Like Models as Anthropic's Export Ban Drags On

With Anthropic's Mythos barred from foreign markets by a U.S. export order, China's Qihoo 360 unveiled Tulongfeng and Tokyo's Sakana AI launched Fugu — frontier models pitched as local alternatives free of export-control risk.

Technology

uristocrat

June 27, 2026 1 min read

Asian AI Startups Launch Mythos-Like Models as Anthropic's Export Ban Drags On — Asian labs are filling the gap left by Anthropic's export ban. Image: Al Jazeera

Key Points

China’s Qihoo 360 unveiled Tulongfeng, pitched against Anthropic’s Mythos.
Tokyo’s Sakana AI launched a frontier model called Fugu.
Both market themselves as local, export-control-free alternatives.
Follows the US order barring Mythos and Fable 5 from foreign users.

The vacuum is filling fast. With the Trump administration’s order keeping Anthropic’s most capable models out of non-American hands, at least two Asian labs have moved into the space it left behind. China’s cybersecurity giant Qihoo 360 unveiled Tulongfeng, which it says can go head-to-head with Mythos, while Tokyo-based Sakana AI launched a frontier model, Fugu, advertised as standing “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Fable 5 and Mythos Preview.

The pitch writes itself. Sakana’s site promises “frontier capability without the risk of export controls” — turning a US policy meant to deny adversaries an edge into a marketing line for everyone else. Local models trained on local language and nuance are an easier sell in markets Washington just told they can’t buy the American product.

This is the predictable cost of the Mythos export ban. Restricting a model doesn’t freeze demand; it relocates it, and accelerates the rivals it was meant to slow — the same dynamic now playing out as Anthropic accuses Alibaba of distilling Claude at scale. Deny the export, grow the competition.

Source: TechCrunch, Al Jazeera