Sakana AI

Sakana AI is a Tokyo-based AI research lab building models inspired by natural systems — swarm intelligence, evolutionary algorithms, and collective behavior. Founded by David Ha and Llion Jones (both former Google Brain researchers; Jones is a co-author of the original 'Attention Is All You Need' transformer paper), Sakana takes a radically different approach from the brute-force scaling that dominates Western AI labs.

The company's name means 'fish' in Japanese, reflecting its philosophy of small, efficient models that work together like a school of fish rather than one massive model. Sakana develops techniques to combine, merge, and evolve smaller models into capable systems — potentially achieving strong performance without the enormous compute costs of training frontier LLMs.

Sakana has raised $300M, making it the most well-funded AI startup in Japanese history. The company represents Japan's ambition to be a major player in AI development, offering a culturally and technically distinct approach to the field.