OpenAI enhances agentic AI development with improvements to Codex and the Agents SDK - SiliconANGLE

OpenAI is pushing the envelope for developers of artificial intelligence agents.

Today it expanded the capabilities of its Codex software engineering agent that launched last month and also making it available to more users. It’s also making more tools available to developers of voice agents through the OpenAI Agents software development kit.

The company debuted Codex in ChatGPT in May, but it was initially available only to Enterprise subscribers. The tool, accessible via a sidebar in the ChatGPT interface, is designed to help developers write code and fix bugs. Codex was trained on dozens of real-world coding tasks in multiple software environments It can both configure new code according to the user’s prompt, or alternatively answer questions about existing code, with responses delivered in around 30 seconds to one minute, based on the complexity of the prompt.

With today’s update, Codex is now being expanded to ChatGPT Plus users too, and they’ll enjoy generous usage limits for a limited time, although during periods of high demand they may face rate limits.

According to OpenAI’s post, Codex is now able to connect to the web to install dependencies, run tests that require external resources, upgrade packages and more tasks that demand internet connectivity. However, the company said internet access remains switched off by default, and must be enabled for specific environments. Users will be able to control which domains it can access. The capability is coming to ChatGPT Plus, Pro and Teams users first, with Enterprise users expected to get it later.

There are several other updates too. For instance, Codex now has the ability to update pull requests when performing a follow up task, and users will also be able to dictate tasks to it, instead of typing them out.

Elsewhere, it gets support for binary files when applying patches, improved error messages for setup scripts, and increased limits on task diffs, up from 1 megabyte to 5 megabytes, and higher limits of 10 minutes on setup script durations, up from five minutes previously.

OpenAI has also re-enabled live activities for iOS Codex users after fixing a problem pertaining to missed notifications, and removed the two-factor authentication requirement for users with single sign-on or social logins.

As for voice agent developers, they’ll be pleased to know that the OpenAI Agents SDK now supports TypeScript, with features including guardrails, handoffs, tracing and the Model Context Protocol, which provides a standardized way for agents to use third-party software tools such as browsers. The Agents SDK launched in March, providing tools for integrating AI models and agents with internal systems

Other updates in the Agents SDK include support for human-in-the-loop approvals, so developers can pause tool executions, serialize and store agent states and approve or reject specific calls, the company said. The Traces dashboard is getting support for Realtime application programming interface sessions, making it easier for developers to visualize voice agent runs, the company said.

Finally, there’s an updated speech-to-speech model available in the SDK that delivers improved instruction following capabilities, interruption behavior and tool-calling consistency. Developers will also be able to control how fast the voice speaks, the company said.

Image: OpenAI