Sakana AI rolls out Fugu Max and Fugu Ultra v2 with separate cost and performance tracks

Japanese AI company Sakana AI has introduced Fugu Max and Fugu Ultra v2, two new products built around the same core idea: a model orchestrator that reviews a task, assigns different models to handle parts of it, lets them cross-check one another, and then combines the final answer. According to the brief, the first-generation Fugu used this approach to assemble teams of models including GPT, Claude, and Gemini, reaching performance close to, and in some cases above, the then-stronger Fable 5. The new lineup splits into two clear directions. Fugu Max is positioned as the lower-cost option, expanding its model pool with more open-weight and specialist models while favoring cheaper models that are still sufficient for the job. Sakana said that when performance is close to top-tier models, the cost is about 1/2 to 1/6 of those alternatives. Fugu Ultra v2, by contrast, is aimed strictly at top-end performance. Sakana said it ranked first or tied for first in 5 of 8 benchmarks, even though its agent pool does not include Fable 5, Fable 5.1, or GPT-6 Astra. The company did not disclose Max’s cache hit rate or total token cost per task.