OpenAI brings Claude Code competitor Codex to macOS
Since spring of last year, OpenAI has been offering its coding app Codex. Originally, it was a response to the successful Claude Code application from Anthropic. But now OpenAI is bringing Codex as a macOS app and wants to make the tool something more sophisticated in the process, Engadget reports. In its most basic form, Codex is a programming agent capable of writing code for users. But now it can also manage multiple AI assistants that can work together to accomplish more complex tasks.
Codex delegates tasks to different models
OpenAI provides an example of how this could work in practice. The company used Codex to develop a Mario Kart-like racing game. This came complete with a selection of different playable cars, eight tracks, and a collection of power-ups. For a single AI agent, creating a game from scratch, including all required visual elements, would be a difficult task. However, Codex was able to handle this task because it could delegate the work of creating the game to different models with complementary abilities.
For example, it turned to GPT Image for the visual elements, while a separate model simultaneously programmed the web game. “It took on the roles of designer, game developer, and QA tester to validate its work by actually playing the game,” OpenAI says about the process.
“Skills” make coding less complicated
OpenAI wants to make the coding process more accessible with a section of the app called “Skills”. The feature bundles “instructions, resources, and scripts so that Codex can reliably connect to tools, execute workflows, and complete tasks according to your team’s preferences,” the company explains. “The Codex app includes a dedicated interface for creating and managing skills. You can explicitly ask it to use specific skills, or let it use them automatically based on the task at hand.”
The application can also automate repetitive tasks. In a special area of the app called “Automations,” users can schedule tasks that the software then executes in the background. “At OpenAI, we use Automations to handle repetitive but important tasks, such as daily troubleshooting, finding and summarizing CI errors, creating daily release briefings, searching for bugs, and much more.”
AI startups explore parallel-working AI agents
The macOS app comes at a time when AI startups are exploring what a group of parallel-working AI agents can accomplish. Earlier this year, Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, found that it is possible to develop a functioning web browser from scratch using such an approach, although some issues arose.
For a limited time, OpenAI is making Codex available to ChatGPT Free and Go users so they can see what is possible with this new software. At the same time, the company is doubling prices for Plus and Pro subscribers.
