OpenAI’s Codex gets computer control, memory upgrade, and more: What you need to know

OpenAI has unveiled an impressive update for its AI coding assistant, Codex, designed to enhance its functionality and reliability for developers. This upgrade is particularly timely, as competition in the AI coding space intensifies, with competitors like Anthropic making headlines with their offerings, including Claude Code. One of the standout features of this update is Codex's newfound ability to operate a computer in the background. This allows the AI to autonomously interact with the screen, click, and type, facilitating seamless work across a range of applications. This capability is particularly beneficial for tasks such as application testing, frontend design adjustments, and utilizing tools that lack APIs. Notably, multiple AI agents can now run simultaneously without interfering with user activities in other applications. In a recent blog post, OpenAI highlighted the advantages of this feature, stating, "Multiple agents can work on your Mac in parallel, without interfering with your own work in other apps. For developers, this is helpful for iterating on frontend changes, testing apps, or working in apps that don’t expose an API." Additionally, the Codex desktop app has been upgraded to include a built-in browser, enabling users to comment on webpages directly to guide the AI’s actions. Codex's capabilities have also expanded to include generating and editing images with the new GPT-image-1.5 model. Alongside these enhancements, OpenAI has introduced over 90 new plugins that amalgamate various skills, app integrations, and MCP servers, significantly improving Codex's ability to gather contextual information and execute tasks across different tools. Other noteworthy updates include enhanced memory and automation features. Codex can now retain user preferences and past information to improve task execution in the future. It can also schedule tasks for later and resume lengthy operations automatically over extended periods. These enhancements are being rolled out for users of the Codex desktop app who are signed in with ChatGPT. Personalization features, such as context-aware suggestions and memory, will soon be accessible to Enterprise, Edu, and users in the EU and UK. Currently, the computer interaction feature is exclusive to macOS, with plans to expand availability to EU and UK users in the near future.