Last Friday, OpenAI introduced a new coding system called Codex, designed to perform complex programming tasks from natural language commands. Codex moves OpenAI into a new cohort of agentic coding tools that is just beginning to take shape.

OpenAI's new Codex agent is essentially a vibe-coding environment based on a ChatGPT-like comment interface. As much as the vibe-coding idea seems like a meme for wannabe cool-kid coders, the new Codex agent is impressive as heck.

Though artificial intelligence is taking the world by storm, it's still pretty bad at tasks demanding a high-degree of flexibility, like writing computer code. Earlier this year, OpenAI, the company behind the dominant ChatGPT,