OpenAI just unveiled the latest iteration of Codex—a system of cloud-powered AI agents that can tackle multiple programming tasks simultaneously without tying up your laptop's resources. The announcement comes just one month after OpenAI released its free, open-source version, “Codex CLI.” Unlike the normal code-completion or code-generation tools we've become accustomed to during vibe coding sessions—in which we iterate with an AI chatbot several times until the results are satisfactory—Codex operates as a semi-autonomous agent with its own computing resources. It's capable of handling everything from bug hunting to complex refactoring. "Software engineering is changing, and by the end of 2025 it's going to look fundamentally different," OpenAI President Greg Brockman said in an official presentation. “Today, we're going to take a step towards where we think software engineering is going, and we are releasing a new system, which is a remote software agent that can run many tasks in parallel.” The demo showed how OpenAI developers deployed multiple AI agents working in parallel on different portions of a codebase, each in its own isolated environment, doing different tasks in parallel with minimal human guidance. "This change probably would have taken me at least 30 minutes or even hours to debug," Hansen, one team member, noted during the presentation, while the AI completed the task in the background during their conversation. "We find Codex to be as trustworthy, if not more trustworthy, than our own co-workers," Katie, another OpenAI researcher, claimed. Unlike the previous CLI version, this new Codex runs on OpenAI's infrastructure instead of locally. Its agentic architecture also means the AI can review and improve itself. In other words, developers can fire off multiple coding tasks simultaneously and return later to review the results, because an agent is able to review its own outputs—and fix its own bugs.  The system is powered by a new model called Codex One, which OpenAI described as its “best coding model to date." “We've taken o3 and we've optimized it for not just the benchmarks, but really for the kind of code that people actually want to merge into their codebase,” Brockman said. OpenAI emphasized that Codex is still a "research preview," and said there's more development ahead. But you’ll have to pay pay for OpenAI’s premium tier you want to test it. Initially, Codex is available for ChatGPT Pro, Enterprise, and Teams users, with plans to expand to Plus and Edu users later in the future. OpenAI said it is starting with "very generous rate limits" and no additional pricing, though this will change as it gathers usage data and feedback. Looking ahead, OpenAI plans to integrate Codex with issue trackers and CLI systems, potentially automating even more of the development lifecycle. The company also continues to develop Codex CLI, the open-source, local agent that runs on developers' own machines, and envisions a future where local and remote versions work together seamlessly. "What you really want is a remote co-worker with its own computer, but who can also look over your shoulder," Brockman explained. "You're there typing away, working on some change, and you're like, 'Ah, I want to go to lunch. Codex, can you finish this?' It just takes it over seamlessly and runs it in the cloud." wow so far DMs in a shockingly even dead heat between "you made a software engineer and didn't include unlimited use in the $20 plan? fuck you!" and "you made a software engineer and you're not charging $20k a month for it? what the fuck?" — Sam Altman (@sama) May 16, 2025 In an X post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that he's received very different reactions to the announcement. "Wow, so far DMs in a shockingly even dead heat between: 'You made a software engineer and didn't include unlimited use in the $20 plan? Fuck you!'" he wrote, "and, 'You made a software engineer and you're not charging $20K a month for it? What the fuck?'" Edited by Andrew Hayward