OpenAI Codex Gains Multi-AI Agent Feature with Dedicated Mac Application

OpenAI has launched Codex, its AI-powered coding assistant designed for developers, as a standalone macOS application. The most notable new feature of the app is the 'multi-agent' capability, which enables multiple AI models to collaborate and complete a task by dividing the work.

Multiple Specializations for a Single Task

According to the company's statement, this new system allows Codex to manage complex projects by distributing them to AI models with different specializations. To illustrate this capability, OpenAI provided the example of a Mario Kart-like racing game developed from scratch using Codex. Within the project, the game's visual assets were created by the GPT Image model, while a separate model handled the coding for the web-based game.

OpenAI described the process as "Codex took on the roles of designer, game developer, and quality assurance tester, and verified its work by actually playing the game." This approach is considered a significant step in automating tasks that require multifaceted skills and would be difficult for a single agent to handle.

Innovative "Skills" and "Automations" Features

To make this seemingly complex system more accessible, a section called "Skills" has been added to the application. This feature packages the necessary instructions, resources, and scripts for Codex to connect to specific tools, run workflows, and complete tasks according to team preferences.

Another important addition is the "Automations" section. This part allows users to schedule repetitive tasks for the software to complete in the background. OpenAI stated that it uses this feature internally for routine yet important jobs such as daily issue classification, finding and summarizing continuous integration errors, creating daily release briefings, and bug checks.

Market Strategy and Broader Trend

OpenAI is allowing ChatGPT Free and Go users to also experience the Codex macOS application for a limited time. This move aims to demonstrate the new software's potential to a broad audience. Simultaneously, the company has doubled the rate limits for Plus and Pro subscribers.

This launch of Codex coincides with a period where AI ventures are exploring what a group of parallel-working AI agents can achieve. For example, Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, showed earlier this year that a similar approach made it possible to create a working web browser from scratch, albeit encountering some issues along the way. These developments, like Google's new 'World Model' which is claimed to be causing ripples in the gaming sector, indicate that AI will play an increasingly central role in creative and complex production processes.

OpenAI's transformation of Codex into a standalone desktop application and its enhancement with multi-agent capabilities has been recorded as a new stage in the evolution of AI-assisted software development tools.