OpenAI targets Anthropic with an integrated Codex that gives it more power over your desktop

There is currently a low-level battle between OpenAI and Anthropic over who can release the most user-friendly and powerful AI coding tools and, so far, Anthropic seems to be winning. Claude’s code has been called the tool of choice for many businesses, as TechCrunch reported last week, but OpenAI isn’t giving up just yet.

This week, OpenAI announced an update to Codex, its automation tool, with a variety of new updates designed to give it significantly more power.

On Thursday, the company announced a number of new features and updates, perhaps the most notable of which is that Codex can now run in the background on your computer – open any application on your desktop and perform tasks with the cursor clicking and typing.

Functionally, what this does is allow Codex to deploy multiple agents, all of which run on the user’s Mac “in parallel, without interfering with your work in other applications,” the company said in a blog post. In other words, because of the way Codex works in the background, the user can still use the machine as the agent does its job. The agent will then act, according to the company, as a kind of coding buddy that performs support tasks while working on senior projects. OpenAI lists “front-end changes, test applications, or operations in applications that do not expose an API” as scenarios that might use this type of agent assistance.

Overall, this agent update and other new additions reflect OpenAI’s desire to not only make Codex a competitive coding assistant but also a versatile tool that can be integrated into a variety of enterprise workflows.

Watchers of the AI ​​code space will also note that some of the capabilities that OpenAI is now adding to Codex look similar to those previously released by Anthropic for Claude Code. Last month, Anthropic announced that Claude and Cowork can remotely control your Mac and desktop on behalf of the user while away from their keyboard.

In addition to the agent tools, OpenAI’s Codex now has an in-app browser, which allows the user to issue commands to the agent tool, which will execute transparently in certain web applications. OpenAI says this work will be useful for frontend and game development, and that it plans to eventually expand the capabilities so that Codex “can fully command the browser without web applications on localhost.”

There are other updates. A new feature in preview called “memory” allows Codex to remember previous performance sessions and generate valuable context about how a particular user is performing. The agent has also been given a new ability to generate images, which OpenAI says can be used to create product concepts, slideshows, mockups, placeholder images, and other business materials. Finally, in order to increase Codex’s ability to make things happen, the company announced 111 plugin integration from applications such as CodeRabbit and Gitlab Issues, which allows Codex to perform tasks that integrate those tools.

The way OpenAI put it, these plugins give Codex the ability to do a little clerical work to organize your work life. For example, if you want Codex to look at your Slack channels and Google calendar and give you a to-do list for a certain day, OpenAI says it can now do that for you.

A new Codex pricing option for ChatGPT business and enterprise customers has also been announced in an apparent effort to give users more flexibility when it comes to accessing coding tool services.

Once considered the undisputed leader of its industry, OpenAI has become increasingly competitive with Anthropic in recent months, focusing on business capabilities and retreating from consumer tools such as its social video app Sora 2. The company has also battled various controversies in recent months, including allegations of ChatGPT’s mental health impact on some users.