Sakana AI plans domestic models to reduce reliance on US and Chinese models

Japanese AI startup Sakana AI announced plans on Oct. 26 to build its own domestic models from scratch, Nikkei Asia reported. The company aims to reduce the risks of relying on U.S. and Chinese models in areas such as defense and cybersecurity.

A possible model name emerged in a separate Oct. 26 post. Quoting Nikkei’s Japanese-language post, @iwiwi wrote that their team had recently been developing a model provisionally named Sakana Sawara. The account said it discussed the development plan at a symposium that day. @iwiwi also argued that starting large language model development now is cost-effective because methods and costs for making a usable model have become clearer. The post gave no release timetable.