OpenAI Launches Codex: An Autonomous Programming Agent

AI and I

OpenAI just launched Codex, a brand-new coding agent that can build features and fix bugs autonomously. We’ve been testing it at Every for a few days, and I’m impressed.

I invited Alexander Embiricos, a member of the OpenAI product staff responsible for Codex, to demo the agent live on a special edition of AI & I. We talk through:

• What Codex is and how it works. Codex’s UI allows developers to see the list of tasks the agent is working on, how many lines were changed for each, and the status of the PR. It’s built for the senior software engineer who wants to delegate and review tasks efficiently.

• How OpenAI is thinking about agents. Codex is one piece of a unified super-assistant OpenAI wants to eventually build—an agent that helps users easily get things done by selecting the right tools for them behind the scenes.

• Why an “abundance mindset” is best for interacting with agents. Codex is designed to allow users to delegate many tasks at once without getting caught up in the details. This lets you point an abundance of agents at a specific task, like a difficult bug—it’s worth it even if only one of them succeeds.

• OpenAI’s vision for the future of programming. In the future developers will probably spend less time writing routine code and more time guiding agents, reviewing their work, and making strategy decisions. Programming will become more social, letting teams easily delegate multiple tasks at once, allowing people to focus on ideas and collaboration instead of routine coding.

Timestamps:

Introduction: 00:00:52

The product decisions behind Codex’s interface: 00:01:40

How Codex works under the hood: 00:06:20

Why you need an abundance mindset to work well with agents: 00:14:06

Setting Codex to work on a real task in “Ask” mode: 00:16:28

How OpenAI is thinking about designing agents: 00:18:54

The future of programming is social: 00:31:16

Reviewing Codex’s work live: 00:37:21

How the landscape of agents will evolve: 00:39:41