With the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump pursuing its “America First” policy, Japan needs to produce its own artificial intelligence technology for defense purposes as cutting-edge AI could become a tool for political leverage, the CEO of a much-hyped Japanese AI startup said Tuesday.

Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, Sakana AI CEO David Ha said that as U.S. foreign policy becomes more U.S.-centric, AI services could serve as “a bargaining chip for countries.”

“Especially in defense and cybersecurity, AI is becoming a core part of this technology. So Japan should have its own know-how and capabilities to produce the AI systems it needs to run them,” said Ha, who founded Sakana AI in 2023 and has raised some ¥30 billion ($203 million) from investors including Nvidia.

With Trump’s U.S.-centric policy approach, the geopolitical status quo has grown increasingly unstable, raising questions about the strength of the Japan-U.S. security alliance. Trump has called the alliance “one-sided” and has urged Tokyo to increase its host-nation support, but Japan has been reluctant to renegotiate additional funding for hosting U.S. troops.

Ha said Sakana AI has “more ambition on the public sector side” and is making efforts to work with the government on defense-related projects as Japan — a leading democracy in Asia — faces many “adversaries” in the region.

Using AI-powered simulations of human behavior, the company has proposed solutions for predicting the outbreak and origin of infectious diseases, as well as detecting AI-generated images related to war, propaganda, and natural disasters.

In the event of a bioattack by an adversary, for example, Sakana AI said it can accurately predict how a virus would spread and provide possible countermeasures.

Sakana AI also says its technology can detect AI-generated images and videos on social media with high accuracy, which may help prevent the spread of disinformation in times of war and natural disasters.

The startup won an Innovative Spirit Award for “excellent potential application of emerging dual-use technology for security and defense” at a competition jointly hosted by Japanese and U.S. defense acquisitions departments in March.

The company, which last June became the fastest startup in Japan to achieve unicorn status — an unlisted company valued at over $1 billion — is now in an "early" stage of dialogue with the government, according to Ha.

“Not many startups in Japan want to work in (the) defense side and governments. And I think I also see that as an opportunity for our company to engage with the governments on developing defense-related solutions using AI,” Ha said.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is keen on utilizing AI, pledging to increase government and corporate funding in the sector to over ¥50 trillion in the next 10 years.

In the past few months, Ishiba met with the CEOs of U.S. tech giants including OpenAI, AMD and Nvidia to boost Japan-U.S. cooperation on AI.

The U.S. and China together hold 60% of all AI patents and produce one-third of the world’s AI publications, according to a U.N. Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report. Just 100 companies — mostly based in those two countries — account for 40% of global AI research and development.

But it may take time for the Japanese government to make use of Sakana AI’s defense-related applications.

“I think, in general, engaging (with) the public sector, especially in an important area of defense, takes years or even decades,” said Ha.