20 Sources
[1]
OpenAI teams up with Infosys to bring AI tools to more businesses | TechCrunch
OpenAI has partnered with Infosys to integrate its artificial intelligence tools, including coding assistant Codex, into the Indian IT giant's Topaz AI platform. Infosys said the integration will be used to help its clients modernize software development, automate workflows and deploy AI systems at scale, initially focusing software engineering, legacy modernization, and DevOps. India's IT services firms face mounting pressure from a mix of slowing client spending and rapid advances in generative AI. Shares of Infosys have fallen over 22% this year amid a broader sell-off triggered by weak forecasts, investor concerns that AI tools could automate parts of traditional outsourcing work, and macroeconomic turmoil due to the U.S.-Iran war. The move also reflects a broader trend of AI firms teaming up with global IT services providers to scale adoption in large enterprises. OpenAI has previously partnered with HCLTech, and Infosys has struck a similar deal with Anthropic. OpenAI gains a distribution channel into large enterprises through Infosys' global client base and delivery capabilities across more than 60 countries. The companies said the deal is aimed at helping enterprises move from experimentation to large-scale deployment. Infosys has been ramping up its AI business. The company said earlier this year that AI-related services generated ₹25 billion (about $267 million) in revenue in the December quarter, or roughly 5.5% of its total. The deal is part of a broader push by OpenAI to expand its enterprise footprint through initiatives such as Codex Labs, announced on Tuesday, which involves engineers working with clients to help deploy its tools. Initial partners include Accenture, Capgemini, CGI, Cognizant, Infosys, PwC and Tata Consultancy Services, as OpenAI aims to build a distribution network to scale adoption of Codex, which now has more than 4 million weekly active users. The companies did not disclose financial details of the deal.
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OpenAI takes aim at Anthropic with beefed-up Codex that gives it more power over your desktop | TechCrunch
There is currently a low-grade war between OpenAI and Anthropic over who can release the most convenient and powerful AI-coding tools and, so far, Anthropic seems to be winning. Claude Code has been dubbed the tool of choice for many businesses, as TechCrunch reported last week, but OpenAI isn't giving up yet. This week, OpenAI announced a revamp of Codex, its own automated tool, with a variety of new updates designed to give it significantly expanded powers. On Thursday, the company announced a plethora of new features and updates, perhaps the most notable of which is that Codex can now operate in the background on your computer -- opening any app on your desktop and carrying out operations with a cursor that clicks and types. Functionally, what this does is allow Codex to deploy multiple agents, all of which work on a user's Mac "in parallel, without interfering with your own work in other apps," the company said in a blog post. In other words, because of the way Codex runs in the background, a user can still be using the machine as the agent goes about its own work. The agent will then function, according to the company, as a kind of coding buddy that does auxiliary tasks while you work on topline projects. OpenAI's lists "iterating on frontend changes, testing apps, or working in apps that don't expose an API" as potential use-cases for this kind of agentic assistance. Overall, this agentic update and other new additions demonstrate OpenAI's desire to not only make Codex a competitive coding assistant but also a more multifaceted tool that can be integrated into a variety of corporate workflows. Watchers of the AI coding space will also note that some of the powers OpenAI is now adding to Codex seem to resemble those previously released by Anthropic for Claude Code. Last month, Anthropic announced that Claude and Cowork could remotely control your Mac and desktop on a user's behalf while they were away from their keyboard. In addition to the agentic tools, OpenAI's Codex now has an in-app browser, which allows a user to issue commands to the agentic tool, which it will then ostensibly carry out on specific web applications. OpenAI says this function will be useful for frontend and game development, and that it plans to eventually expand the capability so that Codex can "fully command the browser beyond web applications on localhost." There are other updates. A new feature in preview called "memory" allows Codex to recall previous work sessions and generate important context about how a particular user works. The agent has also been given a new image-generation ability, which OpenAI says can be used to create product concepts, slide visuals, mockups, placeholder images, and other corporate paraphernalia. Finally, to expand Codex's ability to get things done, the company has announced 111 plugin integrations from apps like CodeRabbit and Gitlab Issues, which allows Codex to carry out tasks involving those tools. The way OpenAI has framed it, these plugins give Codex the ability to carry out minor clerical work to organize your work life. For example, if you want Codex to take a look at your Slack channels and Google calendar and give you a to-do list for a given day, OpenAI says that it can now do that for you. A new pay-as-you-go Codex pricing option for ChatGPT enterprise and business customers has also been announced in an apparent effort to give users more flexibility when it comes to procuring the coding tool's services. Once considered the undisputed leader of its industry, OpenAI has more fiercely competed with Anthropic in recent months, with a focus on enterprise capabilities and a retreat from consumer tools like its social video app Sora 2. The company has also battled various controversies in recent months, including lawsuits over ChatGPT's alleged mental health impact on some users.
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These New Codex Updates Are the 'First Phase' of OpenAI's Dream Super App
Codex is less than a year old, but the AI coding platform may be the key to OpenAI's dream of a superapp -- a theoretical one-stop shop for ChatGPT, its Atlas browser and Codex. OpenAI said that Codex, not ChatGPT, will be the foundation for this app. "We're actually doing the sneaky thing where we're building the super app in the open and evolving it out of the Codex app," Thibault Sottiaux, engineering lead for Codex, told reporters during a briefing this week. Codex has been a popular app of choice for AI developers and vibe coders. As of now, OpenAI says Codex has more than 3 million weekly users. But nearly half of Codex use is for non-coding tasks, according to OpenAI. So the company on Thursday announced a series of updates to make Codex more integrated into every part of your work day, not just coding. The biggest news is that Codex can work across many of your computer's apps, not just ChatGPT. This is the "first phase" of making Codex the foundation for a future super app, Sottiaux said. Codex can run multiple agents across your desktop apps. There are more than 100 new plugins available for developers, including Atlassian Rovo, CircleCI, CodeRabbit, GitLab Issues, Microsoft Suite and Neon by Databricks. But you can also give Codex access to your Slack, Notion and Google apps. The idea is that Codex will be more helpful if it has access to more of your digital work life. It has an improved memory, so it can learn and adapt to your work style. Codex can be used as a kind of personal assistant; it's agentic, which means it can autonomously handle tasks. The new Automations tool lets you set reminders for Codex to run repetitive tasks, called "heartbeats," like constantly scanning your messages and prioritizing what needs your attention. You can also set it up to give you briefings at the beginning and end of your days. Developers can also now work from in-app browsers, so you can preview projects you're building in Codex from the app, and see them as they would appear in a web browser. This makes it easier to see the final product and make changes. You can leave comments on the browser page, and Codex's agents will make those changes. AI image generation is also coming to Codex (GPT Image 1.5), so you can make those iterative changes with photos, too. Coding platforms like Codex have been all the rage for AI companies this year. Anthropic released Claude Code earlier this year, stunning enthusiasts and Wall Street with its advanced capabilities. OpenAI recently introduced a new, relatively cheaper $100 per month plan with higher Codex usage limits -- half the price of the usual ChatGPT Pro plan. Developers and vibe coders tend to need those more expensive plans because those requests use more tokens and are more compute-intensive.
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OpenAI's Codex Desktop can run your computer now - and has its own browser
While the capabilities are undoubtedly powerful, the messaging is a little murky. In a briefing yesterday, OpenAI recognized that Codex Desktop is still targeted at programmers but includes additional productivity tools that go beyond code generation. Also: 7 AI coding techniques I use to ship real, reliable products - fast I quite enjoy OpenAI briefings because the excitement from the folks building the AI is tangible and genuine. They give off a "Check out what we did" vibe that's refreshing among all the corporate speak we get from AI vendors every day. However, I think there's a law somewhere that all briefings must include slides. One of the company's slides said that 80% of OpenAI's staff use Codex, which highlights how non-programmers can use the Codex Desktop app. A key feature of the new Codex Desktop is computer use, which means the AI inside Codex Desktop can operate your computer. Also: How AI has suddenly become much more useful to open-source developers This release lets the AI run applications in the background. So, while the technology runs an automation, you can do other tasks in other applications. The computer use feature is only available for MacOS, at least for now. Codex Desktop now includes an in-app browser. OpenAI didn't demonstrate the in-app browser performing automations, so we'll have to test this feature out and let you know what we think once we get our hands on the app itself. Also: I built two apps with just my voice and a mouse - are IDEs already obsolete? One interesting (and long overdue) feature is the ability to click on an element in the browser and have the AI understand where you're clicking. So, rather than trying to explain you want the font changed in the third headline in column two, you can click the item you want changed and tell the AI to "change this to that." If this feature is reliable, it will definitely save some serious time. ChatGPT has had excellent image generation capabilities for quite some time, but Codex Desktop has not. Now, however, you should be able to create an agent that generates an image, chart, or diagram automatically as part of the overall automation. Also: I tested the new ChatGPT Images - it's a stunning improvement, and enormously fun This is another feature that needs to be tested to see how well it works. If the feature keeps pace with the improvements we've seen in competing Gemini offerings, the image-generation capabilities should prove handy. Automations can now be added to existing conversational threads, allowing the AI to pick up on context from earlier discussions and interactions. Codex can assign itself work that, according to OpenAI, means it can "wake up automatically to continue on a long-term task, potentially across days or weeks." Although ChatGPT has had a memory feature for a while, the Codex app was particularly problematic because it had to be brought back up to speed on every relaunch. Now, the app has a memory capability that, according to the company, can "remember useful context from previous experience, including personal preferences, corrections, and information that took time to gather." OpenAI said: "This helps future tasks complete faster and to a level of quality previously only possible through extensive custom instructions." Also: The overselling of AI - and how to resist it Codex now has a nag feature that launches with the app. Here's how the developers described this feature: "Codex now also proactively proposes useful work to continue where you have left off." Basically, when you jump back into Codex, the AI will try to see what you were working on and will propose continuing those workflows. The product has a bunch of developer-oriented features, including: Personally, I'm most excited about the multiple tabs feature. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, you can't color-code the tabs the way I do to keep track of my different projects in different terminal tabs. But, at the rate this feature is improving, it's probably something we'll see soon. Also: Is Perplexity's new Computer a safer version of OpenClaw? How it works Finally, Codex Desktop is shipping with access to more than 100 plugins. In AI-speak, plugins are apps that combine skills, app integrations, and MCP servers for more in-depth capabilities. Given OpenClaw's problems with user-contributed skills that have led to a flood of malware, I asked the developers how they are addressing plugin issues. I was told that OpenAI curates plugins before they're made available. The new Codex Desktop is available to any OpenAI tier with Codex access. Obviously, running more automations and long-run projects will use up token allocations more quickly, so proceed with caution and test before you let an agent run unattended. The new Codex Desktop is available for Mac and Windows, although the Computer Use feature is only available on MacOS and is not yet available in the EU. Is Codex Desktop starting to feel like a true productivity tool to you, or is it still primarily a programmer's assistant? Let us know in the comments below.
[5]
OpenAI leans on global consultancies to expand Codex use in large companies
April 21 (Reuters) - OpenAI said on Tuesday it is expanding partnerships with major global consulting firms to speed up enterprise adoption of its Codex artificial intelligence tools, as competition in the rapidly evolving AI market intensifies. It is also launching Codex Labs, which will place OpenAI specialists directly inside customer organizations to help integrate the technology into existing systems and workflows. The ChatGPT‑maker said it is working with global systems integrators including Accenture (ACN.N), opens new tab, Capgemini (CAPP.PA), opens new tab, CGI, Cognizant (CTSH.O), opens new tab, Infosys (INFY.NS), opens new tab, PwC and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS), opens new tab to help large companies identify and deploy Codex across their software development operations. The move comes as OpenAI faces increasing pressure from rivals such as Anthropic, whose Claude models have gained traction with corporate customers for coding, reasoning and enterprise deployments. Larger technology firms including Microsoft, Google and Amazon are also investing heavily to differentiate their AI offerings for businesses. As part of a broader strategic shift, OpenAI has in recent months scaled back or shut down some smaller experimental initiatives, including projects such as Sora, as it concentrates resources on core products such as Codex and ChatGPT. Codex is designed to automate parts of the software development lifecycle, including writing, reviewing and reasoning about code. OpenAI said weekly usage of Codex has climbed sharply in recent weeks, with more than 4 million developers now using it, up from around 3 million earlier this month. Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
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OpenAI's latest Codex update builds the groundwork for its upcoming super app
Last month, following reporting from The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI confirmed it was working on a desktop super app that would combine ChatGPT, its Codex coding agent and Atlas web browser into one cohesive experience. OpenAI is not releasing that application today. Instead, it's pushing out a major update to Codex that significantly expands what that software can do. However, the new release offers a glimpse of what OpenAI hopes to build with its latest effort. "We're building the super app out in the open," said Thibault Sottiaux, the head of Codex, during a press briefing held by OpenAI. "This release is about developers. In the future, we will broaden it up to a wider audience." Until then, the latest version of Codex offers developers multi-purpose AI agents that can work across a "larger surface area," while being more proactive. In practice, that translates to a host of new capabilities, starting with computer use. The agents inside of Codex can interact with other apps on your PC. When prompting one of OpenAI's models, you can name a specific program or let it determine the best application for the job. Computer use is available in competing apps like Claude Cowork, but where OpenAI believes Codex offers an edge in that department is in the "secret sauce" it built to allow an agent to run an app without bogging down your entire system, so the two of you can work in tandem. At the same time, OpenAI is releasing 111 new plugins for Codex that combine skills, app integrations and model context protocol server connections to give Codex more ways to gather context and use the tools developers depend on for their work. The company has also added a built-in browser, with a commenting system that allows you to prompt Codex to make tweaks to specific parts of a webpage or web app you're building. In the demo OpenAI showed, one member of the Codex team used this tool to instruct Codex to change the margins on a graph so that the y axis wasn't cut off. Complementing this is built-in image generation. Codex can use gpt-image-1.5 to create product concepts, mockups, frontend designs and even assets for simple games. It also allows Codex to use screenshots to verify it's on the right track with a user request. With today's update, OpenAI is also previewing a pair of memory features. The first allows Codex to recall context from previous tasks to inform how it goes about future prompts. According to OpenAI, with time, this will allow Codex to complete requests faster and to a higher standard. The app will also use the context it's gathered to suggest proactive actions. For example, at the start of your day, it might suggest you respond to a comment a coworker left on a Google Doc draft you wrote. If you want to try the updated Codex for yourself, OpenAI is starting to roll out the new version to desktop app users who are logged in with their ChatGPT account. Computer use is available to macOS users first, with availability for people in the EU and UK to follow soon. Similarly, Brits and Europeans will need to wait to try the memory features OpenAI has built into Codex.
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OpenAI takes Codex into enterprise software shops worldwide
OpenAI is building a systems integrator channel for Codex, enlisting large consulting firms to carry the coding agent into organisations it cannot reach through direct sales. Cognizant and CGI are the first named SI partners in the programme, announced on the same day. Codex has grown 6x among ChatGPT Business and Enterprise users since January. OpenAI has launched a formal partner programme for Codex, its AI coding and software development agent, enlisting a select group of global systems integrators to deploy the product inside enterprise clients that lack the internal capability to implement and govern it themselves. The first named partners, Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) and CGI (NYSE: GIB), each announced their inclusion in the programme on 21 April, coinciding with OpenAI's own blog post setting out the enterprise push. Both firms describe being part of "a select group" of SIs chosen for their track record in deploying AI at enterprise scale. The programme is a distribution bet as much as a product one. OpenAI's direct sales organisation can reach technology-forward enterprises with dedicated engineering teams, but large-scale rollouts into complex, regulated, or legacy-heavy environments require the change management, systems integration, and industry-specific compliance expertise that consulting firms carry at scale. Cognizant, with $21.1 billion in annual revenue and operations across financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing, is embedding Codex into its Software Engineering Group as a standardised capability, both for its own delivery and as a tool it takes to clients. CGI, whose engineers already use Codex in volume across government, public safety, and commercial sectors, gains early access to new Codex capabilities as part of the expanded agreement. OpenAI's chief revenue officer, Denise Dresser, framed the partnership in terms of the gap between early Codex adoption and repeatable deployment at scale. "As enterprises move quickly to put Codex to work, we're working with leading partners like Cognizant to help more organisations move from early usage to repeatable deployment," she said. The programme extends Codex's scope beyond code generation: both partners are positioning it for legacy code modernisation, vulnerability detection, code review automation, and broader agentic workflow use cases beyond software development. The backdrop to the announcement is a pattern of rapid enterprise adoption that has strained the product's earlier model of direct-access usage. Codex now has 3 million weekly active developers, up from 2 million in mid-March and 1.6 million at the time of the desktop app launch in February. Within ChatGPT Business and Enterprise, the number of Codex users grew 6x between January and April. OpenAI's enterprise segment now accounts for more than 40% of its revenue and is on track to reach parity with consumer revenue by the end of 2026. Named enterprise users include Notion, Ramp, Braintrust, GitHub, Nextdoor, Wonderful, Cisco, and Nvidia, among others. The Codex partner programme builds on a broader enterprise alliance strategy OpenAI announced in February, when it unveiled Frontier Alliances with McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Accenture, and Capgemini, oriented around its Frontier agent platform rather than Codex specifically. The distinction matters: Frontier Alliances are positioned as strategy-and-deployment partnerships for OpenAI's enterprise agent infrastructure, while the Codex partner programme is a more targeted engineering-and-delivery play aimed at software teams. Both tracks reflect the same underlying ambition: to use incumbent consulting relationships to accelerate adoption in the parts of the enterprise market that are slow to self-serve. The dynamics of this channel push are uncomfortable for some established software vendors. Fortune has reported that investors in SaaS companies including Salesforce, Workday, and ServiceNow have repriced their stakes in part on the concern that enterprises will use AI coding agents such as Codex and Anthropic's Claude Code to build bespoke software, eliminating the need for standard SaaS products. Enlisting the same SI firms those vendors have historically depended on for sales and implementation accelerates that dynamic. Accenture, Capgemini, Cognizant, and CGI each serve large incumbent software vendors and AI-native platforms simultaneously; the degree to which they tilt their Codex workloads away from existing enterprise software implementations will be the commercial signal to watch.
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OpenAI's Codex Mac app adds three key features that go beyond agentic coding - 9to5Mac
OpenAI is releasing a new version of its Codex desktop app today. The latest Codex update adds three key features that expand its use beyond agentic coding. Today's release signals the start of a shift for Codex. The app is going from strictly developer-focused to having more general utility as an AI tool on the Mac. Today's Codex release includes three key features that extend the desktop app's capabilities. These include Codex-powered background computer use, an in-app browser built on OpenAI's Atlas, and image generation powered by gpt-image-1.5 -- all without leaving Codex. OpenAI specifically highlights the "background" aspect of Codex's computer use capabilities. Codex can use desktop apps on your Mac in the background while you actively use your machine without interruption. "Multiple agents can work in parallel, without interfering with your own work in other apps," OpenAI says. "For developers, this is helpful for testing and iterating on frontend changes, testing apps, or working in apps that don't expose an API." Last fall, OpenAI released its first AI-focused web browser with the launch of ChatGPT Atlas. Today, Codex is bringing Atlas technology into the stack with its own in-app browser. OpenAI says Codex's in-app browser will let you "comment directly on pages to provide precise instructions to the agent." "This is useful for frontend and game development today, and over time we plan to expand it so Codex can fully command the browser beyond web applications on localhost," the company adds. Image-gen is also now integrated with Codex. This removes the need to switch to the ChatGPT app for creating AI-generated images. For developers, OpenAI expects image-gen inside Codex to be especially useful for making visual concepts and more based on screenshots and code. Beyond these three key features, OpenAI is releasing a curated collection of 111 additional Codex Plugins. These combine skills, app integrations, and MCP servers to extend Codex's capabilities. Codex includes these new software development support features beyond agentic coding: The app now includes support for addressing GitHub review comments, running multiple terminal tabs, and connecting to remote devboxes over SSH in alpha. It also lets you open files directly in the sidebar with rich previews for PDFs, spreadsheets, slides, and docs, and use a new summary pane to track agent plans, sources, and artifacts. Automation has expanded capabilities in the new version of Codex as well: We have expanded automations to allow re-using existing conversation threads, preserving context previously built up. Codex can now schedule future work for itself and wake up automatically to continue on a long-term task, potentially across days or weeks. Lastly, Codex gets a "preview of memory" similar to the ChatGPT app. Codex can "remember useful context from previous experience, including personal preferences, corrections and information that took time to gather." Memory will allow Codex to surface useful prompt suggestions based on ongoing projects: Using context from projects, connected plugins, and memory, Codex can now suggest how to start your work day or where to pick up on a previous project. For example Codex can identify open comments in Google Docs that require your attention, pull relevant context from Slack, Notion, and your codebase, then provide you with a prioritized list of actions. These prompts should improve with use as Codex gains more context. In addition to enhancing the Codex desktop app, OpenAI recently introduced a subscription designed for Codex users. OpenAI's $100/month Pro tier arrived last week. It's an upgrade from the $20/month plan, and a cheaper upgrade than the $200/month Pro tier. The new Pro tier is for "those who use advanced tools and models throughout the week with 5x higher limits than Plus." At launch, it actually includes "10x Codex usage vs. Plus for a limited time," OpenAI says. OpenAI shared last week that Codex has 3 million weekly users. That's a 5x increase in three months with 70% month over month usage growth. OpenAI suggests future versions of Codex will lean further into general productivity use cases for builders beyond engineering. This follows OpenAI's plan to build one "superapp" that integrates all of its technologies. We see the start of that today with background computer use, in-app browser, and image generation being bundled.
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OpenAI Codex Update Adds Computer Use, Image Generation, and Memory on Mac
OpenAI is making several updates to its Codex AI coding agent. Codex is now able to operate desktop Mac apps with its own cursor, seeing what's on the screen, clicking, and typing to complete tasks. Codex can run multiple agents on the Mac in parallel, without interfering with the user's own work. OpenAI says developers will find it useful for testing apps, iterating on frontend changes, and more. Codex can now remember preferences, recurring workflows, tech stacks, and other information about each user's personal workflow. With automation improvements, Codex is able to resume work after a pause using existing conversation threads, and it can schedule future work for itself and work on a task across days or weeks. Codex also proposes work using context from projects, memory, and connected plugins. There is an in-app browser for Codex that allows users to comment directly on pages to provide more precise instructions to the agent. In the future, Codex will get full use of the browser for opening websites, working through user flows, taking screenshots, and inspecting outputs. Codex has been updated to use gpt-image-1.5 for generating images in the app, which OpenAI says is helpful for creating visuals for product concepts and mockups. Codex now includes support for multiple terminal tabs, addressing GitHub review comments, and opening files directly in the sidebar with rich previews for documents like PDFs and spreadsheets. Along with these changes, Codex has over 90 new plugins that can combine skills, app integrations, and MCP servers to improve Codex's context gathering and actions. The updates to Codex are rolling out today to Codex desktop users signed in with ChatGPT. The personalization features are not yet available to Enterprise, Education, EU, and UK users, but will be rolling out soon. Computer use is also not yet available in the EU or the UK.
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OpenAI drastically updates Codex desktop app to use all other apps on your computer, generate images, preview webpages
Confirming it has reached 3 million weekly developers, OpenAI is massively updating its Codex developer environment via its Mac and Windows desktop apps today to bring it closer to the "Super App" the company has confirmed it is pursuing. Before today, Codex was primarily an environment for using OpenAI's underlying language models to write, edit, debug and ship software as directed by the user. Now, Codex will be able to access all of the other apps on your computer, surface relevant information from within them to you when asked or proactively, take actions as directed in said applications, and, in the case of Mac users, even do so while you continue manually using your computer simultaneously to your agents working in the background. Andrew Ambrosino, an OpenAI technical staffer on the Codex team, described the change plainly in an embargoed press briefing I attended virtually yesterday: "Codex can actually click on apps, launch apps, and type into apps. This works with any apps on your machine." Codex on desktop is further getting its own built-in web browser, allowing users to preview their front-end development, and a directly integrated pipeline to OpenAI's powerful AI image generation model gpt-image-1.5, allowing users to generate imagery for their projects -- everything from websites to presentations to full playable PC games with hundreds of assets -- all in the same style. As Thibault "Tibo" Sottiaux, Head of Codex at OpenAI, said during the briefing: "It's not just about the growth. It is putting a very capable agent in the hands of builders, and now we're seeing that we're able to expand and do a lot more work entirely across your computer" Asked why OpenAI was pursuing all this in Codex, not its more recognizable flagship app, ChatGPT, Sottiaux told VentureBeat: "Codex is our most powerful agent.It already worked on your computer, and so we're expanding the capabilities there. It felt very natural. We will make it make sense at some point." The update comes as rival Anthropic has previously courted similar use cases with the launch of its Claude Cowork and redesigned Claude Code desktop app views, all available within the Claude desktop app for Mac and Windows. But Claude does not allow for simultaneous background app cursor usage from the desktop app across all of a user's apps like Codex does. The most significant technological leap in this release is "Computer Use," limited for now to macOS users. This feature allows Codex to break out of the traditional chatbot container to "see, click, and type" across all applications on a machine. Crucially, this happens in the background. "It can use apps on your computer in the background, as opposed to taking over your entire computer," explained Caffrey Lynch of OpenAI's developer product communications. This enables "multi-agent" workflows where Codex might be testing a frontend change or triaging a JIRA ticket while the developer continues working in a different application. For Windows users, the core Codex desktop app remains available and supported -- as does pulling information in from those apps to surface to the user in Codex -- though it lacks the cursor-level background interaction available on Mac at launch. Beyond operating the OS, OpenAI is doubling down on the "Software Development Lifecycle" (SDLC). The Codex app now functions more like a unified workspace, supporting everything from GitHub PR reviews to managing remote infrastructure. "The simplest way to think about this release is teaching Codex and the app to work across a much larger surface area," said Andrew Ambrosino, lead of Codex app development. This surface area now includes: To connect these disparate tasks, OpenAI is releasing more than 90 new plugins. These connectors -- including CircleCI, GitLab, and Microsoft Suite -- allow the agent to gather context and take action across the entire toolchain a developer uses daily. In a demo video shown off during the briefing, OpenAI presented an example showing the user typing into the Codex prompt entry field, "Can you check Slack, Gmail, Google Calendar, and Notion and tell me what needs my attention?" showing how Codex can now scan across multiple apps and gather information from them all in single prompt, and surface what matters most to the user. "You can @ mention them if you want Codex to use a specific app, or if not, Codex can discover which apps to use," Ambrosino said. One of the more subtle but powerful shifts is the introduction of persistent agency. Through "Heartbeat Automations," Codex can now schedule future work for itself and "wake up" to continue long-term tasks. This allows teams to set up agents that monitor Slack channels or Notion docs and proactively update documentation or landing PRs. This is supported by a new "Memory" feature, currently in preview. Memory allows Codex to remember personal preferences, previous corrections, and gathered information, reducing the need for extensive custom instructions in every new session. "As you use Codex, Codex also becomes better at being proactive," noted Sottiaux. This proactivity manifests in a "daily brief" style feature where the app suggests how to start the day by identifying open Google Doc comments or relevant Slack context. It's similar in spirit and practice to the new "Routines" feature launched by Anthropic for its Claude Code product earlier this week. OpenAI has recently transitioned toward a more flexible pricing model for teams, including a $100 plan and pay-as-you-go options to accommodate the increased usage of autonomous agents. For individual users, these updates are rolling out today to those signed in to the Codex desktop app with ChatGPT. While the Codex desktop app is available on both macOS and Windows, the rollout of specific features is tiered: When asked if these features represent the foundation of an AI "Super App," Sottiaux confirmed the strategy: "We're building the Super App in the open and evolving it out of the Codex app". The goal is to address the reality that developers spend a majority of their time on coordination and context-gathering rather than writing code. By bringing Codex closer to the operating system and the broader ecosystem of developer tools, OpenAI is positioning it as the central nervous system for modern software development. "Our mission is to ensure that AGI benefits all of humanity," the company stated in its official announcement. "That means narrowing the gap between what people can imagine and what they can actually build".
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OpenAI partners with consultancies to expand AI coding tool
A new wave of consulting alliances is central to OpenAI's push to get its Codex AI coding tool into large businesses, with Accenture $ACN, Capgemini, CGI, Cognizant, Infosys, PwC, and Tata Consultancy Services all signed on to guide enterprise clients through identifying opportunities for and rolling out the technology within their software development operations. Alongside the consulting expansion, OpenAI announced Codex Labs, an initiative through which the company will embed its own personnel within client organizations to assist with connecting the technology to their existing infrastructure and day-to-day processes, according to Reuters. CGI, one of the largest independent IT and business consulting firms in the world, announced a strategic expansion of its global partnership with OpenAI focused on Codex. The company said tens of thousands of its engineers, experts, and consultants are already using OpenAI technologies, including Codex, to automate tasks, improve workflows, and accelerate software delivery. CGI said its work with OpenAI spans clients in government, public safety, and commercial industry sectors. "Codex is becoming a powerful workspace for managing agents across software development and business workflows," OpenAI CRO Denise Dresser said in a statement. "CGI's deep expertise in large-scale software transformation enables enterprises to deploy Codex across areas like legacy code modernization, code review automation, vulnerability detection, and application development." CGI CTO Dave Henderson said in a statement that "generating business outcomes from Agentic AI isn't just about tooling or adoption, it's about engineering, embedding and integrating agents at the core of how work is done and value is created across the organization." Usage of Codex has surged in a short window, with the platform now drawing 4 million weekly active users -- a figure that stood at roughly 3 million just two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal reported. OpenAI noted that the tool had topped 2 million users as recently as last month. Codex targets the software development process end-to-end, handling tasks that range from generating and critiquing code to working through complex programming logic. OpenAI's consulting partnerships are part of a larger strategy shift. The company is now focusing more on coding tools and enterprise clients, after executives called competition from Anthropic a "wake-up call." Anthropic has gained ground with its Claude Code and Cowork products, while OpenAI previously offered a wider range of products. OpenAI is also working to combine its ChatGPT app, Codex platform, and Atlas browser into one desktop application, and plans to expand Codex into broader productivity tasks. Beyond Anthropic, OpenAI is contending with pressure from Microsoft $MSFT, Google $GOOGL, and Amazon $AMZN, each of which has been pouring resources into making its own AI products stand out to enterprise buyers, according to Reuters.
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OpenAI Super App Takes Shape: Codex Gets Computer Use, Browser, and Image Gen - Decrypt
New features position Codex against Claude Code and OpenClaw. OpenAI announced today it has updated its Codex desktop app with computer use, an in-app browser, image generation, and over 90 new plugins. Almost one year after initially launching Codex, the company now says more than 3 million developers use it every week. And now the idea, OpenAI says, is to let them use "Codex for (almost) everything." With background computer use, Codex can now see your screen, move its own cursor, and click and type inside any Mac application. Multiple agents can run simultaneously without interrupting whatever you're doing on the side. OpenAI says it's most useful for frontend iteration, app testing, and workflows that don't expose an API. The in-app browser lets users comment directly on pages to give the agent precise instructions. OpenAI says it's aimed at frontend and game development today, with plans to expand full browser control over time. Image generation, powered by gpt-image-1.5, is now built into the same workflow -- no API key needed, and with usage covered by a ChatGPT account. It also features 90+ new plugins, including integrations with Atlassian Rovo, CircleCI, CodeRabbit, GitLab Issues, the Microsoft Suite, and Neon by Databricks. They combine skills, app integrations, and MCP servers to extend what Codex can access and act on across a developer's existing toolset. On the workflow side, the app now supports multiple terminal tabs, GitHub PR review comment handling, SSH connections to remote devboxes (in alpha), and a summary pane that tracks agent plans, sources, and artifacts. Files open directly in the sidebar with rich previews for PDFs, spreadsheets, slides, and docs. OpenAI says the goal is to reach "a level of quality previously only possible through extensive custom instructions." There's also a new proactive mode. Using context from connected plugins, memory, and active projects, Codex can suggest where to start a work day or resume a previous task -- pulling open Google Docs comments, relevant Slack threads, Notion pages, and codebase context into a prioritized action list. The feature set covers a lot of the same ground as OpenClaw, the open-source agent framework that went viral in early 2026. OpenClaw was built by Austrian developer Peter Steinberger to run persistent agents locally, connected to messaging apps, files, browsers, and shell commands. It accumulated 60,000 GitHub stars in 72 hours and drew comparisons to a personal AI operating system. Steinberger joined OpenAI in February to lead personal agent development after Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, and Satya Nadella all reached out following OpenClaw's rise. The project moved to an open-source foundation with OpenAI as financial sponsor. Before the OpenAI hire, Anthropic had sent Steinberger a trademark complaint over the original name "Clawdbot" -- a dispute that triggered two chaotic rebrands and, according to observers, accelerated his move to OpenAI. OpenClaw had been running primarily on Anthropic's Claude models at the time. The more direct mainstream, closed source coding-tool rival to OpenAI's Codex is Anthropic's Claude Code, a terminal-based agentic coding assistant that reads entire codebases, edits files, runs tests, and commits to GitHub. Anthropic also introduced its own computer use feature for Claude in March, available as a research preview for Pro and Max subscribers on macOS. Codex packages these capabilities differently -- computer control, browsing, image generation, and coding in one desktop app, tied to a ChatGPT account. OpenAI describes the direction as an effort on "narrowing the gap between what people can imagine and what they can build." The update is rolling out today to Codex desktop users signed in with ChatGPT. Personalization features and computer use are not yet available in the EU or UK.
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OpenAI ratchets up Codex's agentic capabilities to rival Claude Code - SiliconANGLE
OpenAI ratchets up Codex's agentic capabilities to rival Claude Code OpenAI Group PBC today announced a major revamp of its artificial intelligence coding tool Codex, giving it a number of new "agentic" capabilities that enable more complex task automation. The ChatGPT maker is engaged in a fierce battle for AI coding supremacy with its rival Anthropic PBC, and is widely perceived to be losing, with Claude Code seen as the de facto leader by most businesses. But OpenAI is now hitting back, with one of the most notable updates today giving Codex the ability to operate in the background on a computer and carry out various tasks with a cursor that clicks and types. This new capability enables Codex to deploy multiple AI agents, which can work on user's Mac computers in parallel, "without interfering with your own work in other apps," the company said today. Because Codex just runs in the background, users will be able to operate their computer as normal, even while Codex's agents are working independently. This allows it to function as a kind of coding assistant that's able to perform auxiliary tasks while the user focuses on the most complex, topline work, OpenAI said. The company explains that this might include "iterating on frontend changes, testing apps, or working in apps that don't expose an API." The update not only makes Codex a more comprehensive coding assistant, but transforms it into a multifaceted tool that can assist in various other corporate tasks. Some of today's other updates seem to mimic recent additions to Claude Code. For instance, Anthropic last month gave Claude Code and Cowork the ability to remotely control user's computers while they're away from the device, and Codex gets similar functionality. There's also a new in-app browser for Codex, which allows users to issue commands instructing it to perform tasks over the web. According to OpenAI, this will be especially useful for game and frontend development. Elsewhere, OpenAI introduced a preview of "memory," which allows Codex to recall previous work sessions and access content about how users work when performing specific jobs themselves. There's also a new image generation tool that Codex can use to generate product designs, slides, presentations, mockups, placeholder images and other imagery. Finally, the company revealed more than 90 new plugin integrations for applications such as GitLab Issues and CodeRabbit, allowing Codex to use those tools as necessary to accomplish desired tasks. According to OpenAI, Codex needs these plugins to perform all of the clerical work developers need to get done, and will help them to become much more organized. For instance, they allow Codex to look at the user's Slack messages and Google Calendar and create a to-do list for each day, saving them time that would otherwise be spent on planning. In a different kind of update, OpenAI revealed a new pay-as-you-go pricing option for ChatGPT Enterprise and Business users, offering more flexibility for those who either want to test, or require only limited access to Codex's capabilities.
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OpenAI's Codex Can Now Access Apps on Your PC and Generate Images
* Codex is now capable of natively accessing the web * The coding app can now schedule future work for itself * EU and UK users will soon get these capabilities OpenAI, on Thursday, released a major update to Codex, its coding-focused platform for desktop. The new update brings computer use, image generation, native access to the web, and other personalisation tools to users, significantly upgrading the usability of the tool. The new features are first arriving on macOS and will be rolled out to Windows and the integrated development environment (IDE) soon. Interestingly, the capability arrived the same day Anthropic released Claude Opus 4.7, which also focuses on bringing improvements to software engineering. OpenAI's Codex Gets New Capabilities In a post, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) giant announced a new update for Codex. The developer and enterprise-focused product is now gaining several new features that will widen its use case. Making the announcement, the company also highlighted that Codex is now being used by more than three million developers who use the platform every week (weekly active users or WAU). The most noteworthy addition is computer use. Codex can now autonomously operate the user's desktop and control a large selection of apps and tools. By using specific agents, it can see and process the content on the screen, click on icons, and type text in text boxes and documents. The feature can work in the background, meaning the user has the option to either monitor Codex or do their own work in the meantime. This capability is first coming to macOS. Codex can now also work natively with the web using an in-app browser. Users can comment directly on pages to provide precise instructions for the AI agent. However, the feature is limited to locally accessing web applications. Alongside, the platform can also generate and edit images using the GPT-image-1.5 AI model. OpenAI claims that these capabilities will be helpful for developers who want to use Codex for frontend tasks, testing, and iterating on projects. Image generation is also useful for creating visuals for product concepts, frontend designs, mockups, and games. To broaden the use cases of Codex, the company has also released more than 90 additional plugins to let the agentic tool gather context and take action. Some of these include Atlassian Rovo, CircleCI, CodeRabbit, GitLab Issues, Microsoft Suite, Remotion, Render, and Superpowers. Other improvements include support for incorporating GitHub review comments, running multiple terminal tabs, and connecting to remote devboxes over SSH in alpha. Further, OpenAI is also releasing memory in preview, which will allow Codex to remember context from previous conversations and sessions. These can be personal preferences, corrections, and researched information.
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Cognizant joins OpenAI partner group to scale Codex for enterprise clients
Cognizant is now a global partner of OpenAI. The company will use OpenAI's Codex technology to build software for its clients. This integration will speed up development and improve code quality. Cognizant engineers are already using Codex in client projects. The partnership aims to bring advanced AI capabilities to enterprise environments. Cognizant has said that it has been selected by OpenAI as one of its global partners to expand the use of Codex across enterprise clients. The company said it has started integrating Codex into its engineering workflows, aiming to make it a standard part of how it builds and delivers software. The move is part of OpenAI's plan to work with select global systems integrators that can deploy Codex in large and complex enterprise environments and offer related services to clients. Codex to be embedded in engineering workflows Cognizant said it is embedding Codex within its Software Engineering Group. The goal is to use the platform across software development processes such as code generation, testing, refactoring and documentation. The company added that its engineers are already using Codex in client projects. These include artificial intelligence and machine learning development, legacy system upgrades and building agent-based solutions. "The best engineering organizations of the next decade will not be defined by how many engineers they have, but by how effectively human judgment and AI capability work as one," said Rajesh Varrier, President, Global Operations and Chairman & Managing Director, Cognizant India. "We are embedding Codex as a partner in how our engineers work - handling code generation, refactoring, testing and documentation - so our teams can apply human judgment where it is needed most. OpenAI brings frontier intelligence. Cognizant brings enterprise scale, deep industry expertise and the governance rigor that industry requires." Cognizant said the use of Codex is helping speed up software delivery cycles and improve code quality. It also said the technology can help reduce costs and risks in large-scale modernisation projects, especially those involving legacy systems. The company noted that such projects have often faced delays due to complexity, regulatory challenges and dependence on internal knowledge. Cognizant said the partnership adds Codex to its broader AI builder stack, which includes multiple AI platforms and cloud providers. The company said its strategy focuses on linking AI investments with business outcomes through workflow integration and operational deployment. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
[16]
OpenAI Consults With Accenture, PwC, Capgemini To Sell Codex To Businesses
OpenAI has brought on consulting firms in an effort to scale its artificial intelligence coding model, Codex. As a result, OpenAI is launching Codex Labs, combining its experts with organizations to help businesses apply the model to real-world situations. OpenAI will provide workshops and working sessions where enterprise teams will learn where the AI model fits, how to integrate it into their existing workflows, and how to scale its usage. "The demand we're seeing is outpacing our ability to help enterprises adopt Codex as quickly as they'd like. So, we are also working with leading global systems integrators (GSIs) to scale that impact," OpenAI stated. OpenAI's partners include: Accenture, Capgemini, CGI, Cognizant, Infosys, PwC, and Tata Consultancy Services. "These firms know how to operate inside large enterprises. They know how to modernize software delivery, integrate new systems, support change across complex organizations, and help customers move from pilot to production." The model is being used to hunt and fix software flaws in an effort to "reshape" cybersecurity. Anthropic's Claude models have gained popularity among B2B clients for their coding and enterprise use cases. The Sam Altman-led company cut back on "side quests" in favor of enterprise AI and its upcoming "superapp." Photo: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.
[17]
OpenAI Taps Consultants to Help Land Enterprise AI Clients | PYMNTS.com
According to a Tuesday (April 21) Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, this effort is part of the artificial intelligence (AI) startup's effort to shift away from "side projects" and focus on coding and enterprise customers. Codex now has more than 4 million weekly active users, OpenAI has said, compared to 3 million two weeks ago and more than 2 million last month. This comes as the company is engaged in fierce competition with fellow startup Anthropic for enterprise clients. Anthropic, the WSJ added, has become the top AI provider for businesses partially because of the viral success of its coding and AI agent offerings. In an interview with the WSJ, OpenAI Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser said its Codex consulting partners will help the company reach more potential enterprise customers than it could on its own. "Helping companies bridge that gap between how to use it, how to expand it and how to move even more quickly is part of our responsibility, and these partnerships are going to allow us to help scale that to the world," said Dresser, who was appointed last year. Beyond using Codex to help customers with things like updating code, OpenAI's consulting partners will help introduce Codex "into every single line of business," she added. That includes areas such as marketing, finance and sales, where coding agents and tools aren't as common. Dresser told the WSJ that Codex and Frontier -- a platform debuted in February to help businesses develop AI agents -- are designed to help automate parts of all knowledge work. In related news, PYMNTS wrote last week about the challenge facing companies who want to capitalize on new AI tools while still controlling costs. The report followed comments from Uber tech chief Praveen Neppalli Naga, who saw the company's budget balloon while using Anthropic's coding tool Claude Code. "AI coding tools don't behave like traditional software," that report said. "The cost isn't fixed. It rises with use. Each interaction consumes compute, measured in tokens, and the cost of those tokens add up quickly. At Uber's scale, usage didn't grow steadily. It surged. And costs followed faster than anyone expected." The report goes on to note that AI tools that had once been added to engineering workflows as productivity aids are now "line items with variable, consumption-driven costs." Companies that adopted them at scale without modeling usage are faced with invoices that don't match budgets.
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OpenAI Updates its Agents SDK and Upgrades Codex; Takes on the Claude Hegemony
The move is in line with OpenAI's efforts to make a dent in the enterprise AI ecosystem, given the strong growth that arch rival Anthropic has achieved in this space OpenAI has introduced several new features to its agents software development toolkit (SDK) that will assist enterprises to build their own agentic solutions on the fly using the ChatGPT-maker's foundational models. And that's not all, the company has also revamped Codex, its automated tool that challenges the hegemony of Claude Code from arch rival Anthropic. Given the value that agentic AI is currently experiencing in the tech industry, especially since Anthropic delivered on solutions like Claude Work and Claude Code (since matched by OpenAI's own solutions in this realm), the latest move is an obvious effort from Sam Altman's team to get a piece of the growing enterprise AI pie. In a detailed blog post on the upgrades, OpenAI says the new capabilities to Agents SDK will give developers "standardised infrastructure that is easy to get started with and is built correctly for OpenAI models" that would let agents work across files and tools on a computer. And there would also be a native sandbox execution for running the work safely. That the recent updates to the agents SDK and Codex are part of a battle for supremacy between OpenAI and Anthropic is quite obvious. That Anthropic seems to be ahead in this race is also quite obvious, given the support it received during recent tech events such as the HumanX conference in San Francisco last week. The latest updates to Codex includes new features and updates of which the most notable is that it can now operate in the background of a user's computer, doing what it needs to do without actually needing the user's intervention. In other words, this lets Codex deploy multiple agents that works on the MacBook in parallel without interfering with one's work or other apps. In another blog post, OpenAI says the Codex app includes "deeper support for developer workflows, like reviewing PRs, viewing multiple files & terminals, connecting to remote dev boxes via SSH, and an in-app browser to make it faster to iterate on frontend designs, apps, and games." In other words, the user is now getting a coding buddy to do auxiliary tasks. The company lists "iterating on frontend changes, testing apps, or working in apps that don't expose an API" as potential use cases. Additionally, a new feature in preview called "memory" is also coming up where Codex would be able to recall previous work sessions and generate important context about how a particular user works. Additionally, the agents now also get a new image-generation feature which will find use for generating product concepts, slide visuals, mock-ups, placeholder images, and other corporate stuff that users need on a daily basis. The enhancements to Codex as well as the agents SDK indicate that OpenAI is finally chasing specific goals and moving away from side quests as they had promised some time ago by dropping their video generation app Sora. The battle with Anthropic is truly on. In recent times, there is an increasing level of concern around running agentic solutions unsupervised. This is the reason the latest SDK revisions by OpenAI makes sense by allowing the above-mentioned sandboxing capability. This upgrade allows agents to operate in controlled computer environments, thus making it less of a risk. With this facility, agents can work within silos in a specific workspace while accessing files and code only for those particular operations. This results in better protection of the system's overall integrity and considerably reduces the risk of unwanted changes to the database or processes. Additionally, OpenAI has also provided developers with better harnesses. "The Agents SDK harness becomes more capable for agents that work with documents, files, and systems. It now has configurable memory, sandbox-aware orchestration, Codex-like filesystem tools, and standardized integrations with primitives that are becoming common in frontier agent systems," says the blog post. Providing context around the harness, this is a term that refers to other components of an agent besides the model it is running on. In-distribution harness allows enterprises to deploy and test agents running on frontier models. OpenAI says that it understands the need among developers for stuff beyond the best models to build robust agentic AI solutions. They need systems that support how agents inspect files, run commands, write code, and keep working across many steps. And those that exist today come with trade-offs as teams move from prototypes to production, says the post. "Model-agnostic frameworks are flexible but do not fully utilize frontier models capabilities; model-provider SDKs can be closer to the model but often lack enough visibility into the harness; and managed agent APIs can simplify deployment but constrain where agents run and how they access sensitive data," the ChatGPT-maker says. The blog notes that agent systems must be designed assuming prompt-injection and exfiltration attempts. Separating harness and compute helps keep credentials out of environments where model-generated code executes. These new Agents SDK capabilities are generally available to all customers via the API and use standard API pricing, based on tokens and tool use, OpenAI says while noting that the company has set its sights on bringing the broader agent ecosystem together, with support for more sandbox providers, more integrations, and more ways for developers to plug the SDK into the tools and systems they already use.
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OpenAI leans on global consultancies to expand Codex use in large companies
April 21 (Reuters) - OpenAI said on Tuesday it is expanding partnerships with major global consulting firms to speed up enterprise adoption of its Codex artificial intelligence tools, as competition in the rapidly evolving AI market intensifies. It is also launching Codex Labs, which will place OpenAI specialists directly inside customer organizations to help integrate the technology into existing systems and workflows. The ChatGPT-maker said it is working with global systems integrators including Accenture, Capgemini, CGI, Cognizant, Infosys, PwC and Tata Consultancy Services to help large companies identify and deploy Codex across their software development operations. The move comes as OpenAI faces increasing pressure from rivals such as Anthropic, whose Claude models have gained traction with corporate customers for coding, reasoning and enterprise deployments. Larger technology firms including Microsoft, Google and Amazon are also investing heavily to differentiate their AI offerings for businesses. As part of a broader strategic shift, OpenAI has in recent months scaled back or shut down some smaller experimental initiatives, including projects such as Sora, as it concentrates resources on core products such as Codex and ChatGPT. Codex is designed to automate parts of the software development lifecycle, including writing, reviewing and reasoning about code. OpenAI said weekly usage of Codex has climbed sharply in recent weeks, with more than 4 million developers now using it, up from around 3 million earlier this month. (Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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OpenAI upgrades Codex with computer control, image generation to rival Claude Code
OpenAI has announced a major update for its AI coding assistant, Codex. The company says more than three million developers use Codex every week, and this update is designed to turn it into a more 'powerful partner' rather than just a code generator. The update also comes at a time when competition in AI coding tools is heating up. Rivals like Anthropic have been gaining attention with tools such as Claude Code, pushing OpenAI to expand Codex with new features that go beyond writing code. One of the main additions is background computer use. Codex can now interact with your computer by seeing the screen, clicking and typing using its own cursor. This means the AI can work across different apps on your system, helping with tasks like testing apps, adjusting frontend designs, or using tools that don't offer APIs. Multiple AI agents can even work at the same time without interrupting what you are doing. The desktop app now also includes a built-in browser. You can comment directly on webpages to guide the AI. Codex can now also generate and iterate images using the gpt-image-1.5 model. Also read: Is AI replacing jobs or creating them? Here is what LinkedIn data says Also, OpenAI has added more than 90 new plugins. As the company explains, these plugins will 'combine skills, app integrations, and MCP servers to give Codex more ways to gather context and take action across your tool.' Other key features are memory and automation. Codex can remember user preferences and information from past work to improve future tasks. It can also schedule tasks for later and automatically resume long-running work over days or even weeks. Also read: Google finally brings Gemini to Mac with dedicated app: All details These updates are currently rolling out to users of the Codex desktop app who are signed in with ChatGPT. Personalisation features including context-aware suggestions and memory will roll out to Enterprise, Edu, and EU and UK users soon. Also, computer use is initially available on macOS, and is planned to roll out to EU and UK users soon.
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OpenAI is transforming Codex from an AI coding tool into a productivity powerhouse that can control your desktop. The company partnered with Infosys, Accenture, PwC, and other global consulting firms to accelerate enterprise adoption, while adding background automation, 100+ plugins, and memory features. With over 4 million weekly users and competition heating up against Anthropic's Claude Code, OpenAI is positioning Codex as the foundation for a future super app.
OpenAI has unveiled a major overhaul of Codex, its AI coding tool, introducing capabilities that extend far beyond software development into broader productivity and automation. The most striking addition allows Codex to operate in the background on your computer, opening any app on your desktop and carrying out operations with a cursor that clicks and types
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. This means Codex can deploy multiple AI agents that work on a user's Mac in parallel, without interfering with other tasks, functioning as a coding buddy that handles auxiliary work while you focus on primary projects2
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Source: TechCrunch
The update represents a strategic shift for OpenAI as it positions Codex Desktop as the foundation for what it envisions as a super app. Thibault Sottiaux, engineering lead for Codex, revealed that the company is "building the super app in the open and evolving it out of the Codex app"
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. This ambitious vision comes as Codex reaches more than 4 million weekly active users, up from around 3 million earlier this month1
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. Notably, nearly half of Codex use is for non-coding tasks, underscoring its evolution into a broader productivity tool3
.OpenAI is leveraging global consulting firms to accelerate enterprise adoption of its AI tools through an extensive partnership network. The company announced collaborations with Accenture, Capgemini, CGI, Cognizant, Infosys, PwC, and Tata Consultancy Services to help large companies identify and deploy Codex across their software development operations
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. This strategy provides OpenAI with crucial distribution channels into large enterprises through these firms' global client bases and delivery capabilities across more than 60 countries1
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Source: CXOToday
The partnership with Infosys stands out as particularly significant. The Indian IT giant is integrating OpenAI's AI tools, including Codex, into its Topaz AI platform to help clients modernize software development, automate workflows, and deploy AI systems at scale
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. The integration will initially focus on software engineering, legacy modernization, and DevOps1
. For Infosys, which generated ₹25 billion (about $267 million) in AI-related services revenue in the December quarter—roughly 5.5% of its total revenue—this partnership reinforces its commitment to expanding its AI business amid mounting pressure from slowing client spending and concerns that AI tools could automate traditional outsourcing work1
.OpenAI also launched Codex Labs, an initiative that places OpenAI specialists directly inside customer organizations to help integrate the technology into existing systems and corporate workflows
5
. This hands-on approach signals OpenAI's determination to move enterprises from experimentation to large-scale deployment1
.The latest Codex update introduces several features that blur the line between AI coding tool and general productivity assistant. An in-app browser allows users to issue commands to the agentic tool, which then carries out tasks on specific web applications, particularly useful for frontend and game development
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. Users can click on elements in the browser and have the AI understand where they're clicking, eliminating the need to describe locations verbally4
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Source: ZDNet
A new memory feature allows Codex to recall previous work sessions and generate important context about how a particular user works, remembering personal preferences, corrections, and information that took time to gather
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. The agent has also gained image generation capabilities through GPT Image 1.5, enabling creation of product concepts, slide visuals, mockups, and placeholder images2
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.OpenAI announced 111 plugin integrations from apps like CodeRabbit, GitLab Issues, Atlassian Rovo, CircleCI, Microsoft Suite, and Neon by Databricks
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. These plugins enable Codex to access Slack, Notion, and Google apps, allowing it to scan messages, check calendars, and generate daily to-do lists2
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. The new Automations tool lets users set reminders for Codex to run repetitive tasks called "heartbeats," constantly monitoring what needs attention3
.Related Stories
These updates come as OpenAI faces mounting competitive pressure, particularly from Anthropic, whose Claude Code has been dubbed the tool of choice for many businesses
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. Some of the powers OpenAI is adding to Codex resemble capabilities Anthropic previously released for Claude Code, including the ability to remotely control your Mac and desktop while you're away from your keyboard2
. Larger technology firms including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are also investing heavily to differentiate their AI offerings for businesses5
.As part of a broader strategic shift, OpenAI has scaled back or shut down some smaller experimental initiatives, including projects such as Sora 2, concentrating resources on core products like Codex and ChatGPT
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. The company also introduced a new pay-as-you-go Codex pricing option for ChatGPT enterprise and business customers, alongside a $100 per month plan with higher Codex usage limits—half the price of the usual ChatGPT Pro plan2
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.The new Codex Desktop is available for Mac and Windows, though the Computer Use feature is currently only available on MacOS and not yet in the EU
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. With 80% of OpenAI's staff reportedly using Codex, the company is demonstrating how non-programmers can leverage the platform4
. As enterprises watch this space closely, the question remains whether OpenAI can successfully transition Codex from a specialized coding assistant into the comprehensive super app it envisions, while maintaining its competitive edge in an increasingly crowded AI market.Summarized by
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