About this episode

Harrison Painter explores the concept of AI orchestration through the new model Sakana Fugu and compares its performance with other AI models.

A new AI model out of Japan, Sakana Fugu, does something we have not really seen before. Instead of answering you itself, it hires a team of the best AI models, gives each one a piece of the job, and merges their work into one answer. Harrison calls it a manager, or a conductor: you ask one question, and behind the scenes it quietly builds a team for you. In this episode, Harrison explains what model orchestration actually is in plain language, why he thinks this is where AI is heading, and then puts it to the test. He sends the same 8 questions to Fugu, to Claude Opus 4.8, and to GPT-5.5, and grades every answer. The result is honest, and the cost is the part that should give every builder pause. What you'll learn: - What "orchestration" means, explained simply - Why the future may be teams of models, not one genius model - What happened when a team of models went head to head with single models - The real speed and cost tradeoff, with actual numbers - The hidden tokens you pay for but never see - When an orchestrator is worth it, and when one good model is plenty - A heads-up on AI pricing and subsidies most people are not thinking about CHAPTERS 0:00 A glimpse into…

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