If Chinese AI companies can train a model that's slightly worse than the frontier, then there's no reason why they can't train a model that is slightly better than the frontier.
Everybody can agree that K3 doesn't clearly surpass Fable. However, inevitably there will be a time in the future when a Chinese AI company releases a model that's better than any US model.
K3 isn't the knockout blow but it's the 2nd knockdown that makes everyone in the arena realize that the fighter is not winning the fight.
These "real world" examples are nothing like the way I use LLMs from within a harness. GPT 5.6 Sol and Fable are clearly more impressive, but how does this translate to interactive agent use, or use under an agent orchestration framework?
Everybody can agree that K3 doesn't clearly surpass Fable. However, inevitably there will be a time in the future when a Chinese AI company releases a model that's better than any US model.
K3 isn't the knockout blow but it's the 2nd knockdown that makes everyone in the arena realize that the fighter is not winning the fight.