OpenAI Codex Updates Bring AI Agent to Desktop with Multitasking, Browser, and More

OpenAI released a major update to Codex, its desktop app, which allows Codex to work across multiple apps, use a browser, and remember past experiences. Codex now operates more like a desktop AI agent, expanding its utility beyond agentic coding. This marks a significant expansion of the app's capabilities, with future plans to make it a more general-purpose AI tool.

OpenAI updated its Codex desktop app with a range of new features, significantly increasing its usability as a desktop AI agent . The update allows Codex to interact across various desktop applications, generate images, and preview web pages, all while working in the background without interfering with user tasks .

While the exact nature of this update may evoke a sense of déjà vu, especially following recent reporting on the company's plans for a more comprehensive 'super app' combining ChatGPT, Codex, and Atlas , there are still differences between this version of Codex and that potential application.

According to OpenAI, its goal is to create an application that can do more than just code and provide coding assistance. This update offers a glimpse of what could possibly be included in that new super app.

The update may also be seen in the light of a challenge or a reaction to another AI system called Claude Code, developed by Anthropic, in an increasingly competitive space for AI tools