OpenAI launches an AI coding agent

👋 Good morning/evening (wherever you are). It’s Friday.

OpenAI introduced Codex — “a cloud-based software engineering agent that can work on many tasks in parallel, powered by codex-1. Available to ChatGPT Pro, Team, and Enterprise users today, and Plus users soon.”

In a briefing ahead of Codex’s launch, OpenAI’s Agents Research Lead, Josh Tobin, told TechCrunch the company eventually wants its AI coding agents to act as “virtual teammates,” completing tasks autonomously that take human engineers “hours or even days” to accomplish. OpenAI claims it’s already using Codex internally to offload repetitive tasks, scaffold new features, and draft documentation.

OK let’s keep going ↓

Here’s what you should know:

• Oracle, Cleveland Clinic & G42 to launch AI healthcare delivery platform

  This initiative aims to improve patient care and public health management by leveraging AI, nation-scale data analytics, and intelligent clinical applications to create secure, scalable, and accessible care models that positively impact people’s health and longevity.

• MIT no longer stands behind student’s AI research paper

  The paper 'Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery and Product Innovation' by a former second-year PhD student in the Department of Economics at MIT, is already known and discussed extensively in the literature on AI and science, even though it has not been published in any refereed journal.

• Yes, Spanish filmmakers are testing AI

  After becoming one of the first countries in Europe to draft a law concerning the use of AI, Spanish filmmakers are experimenting, with caution: "We need to embrace it, but it cannot replace art."

• James Earl Jones’ Darth Vader returns to ‘Fortnite’ using AI

  James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character. — The family of James Earl Jones

• Getting AI to write good SQL

  With Gemini, Google can generate SQL directly from natural language — a.k.a. text-to-SQL. This capability increases developer and analysts’ productivity and empowers non-technical users to interact directly with the data they need.

• Air Force launching new AI Center of Excellence

  The Department of the Air Force will establish a new center for artificial intelligence development, building on existing partnerships with MIT, Stanford University, and Microsoft, according to outgoing Chief Information Officer Venice Goodwine.

• xAI says Grok’s focus on South Africa’s racial politics was ‘unauthorized’

  Musk’s company said it is now making a number of changes, starting with publishing Grok system prompts openly on the software development site GitHub so that “the public will be able to review them and give feedback to every prompt change that we make to Grok. We hope this can help strengthen your trust in Grok as a truth-seeking AI.”

The numbers:

• Anthropic secured $2.5 billion in debt to finance growth investments

• Moonvalley, a Los Angeles-based AI video startup, raised an additional $10 million, bringing its total funding to $53 million in this latest round and $124 million overall, differentiating itself with licensed data for training and robust legal safeguards.

• Samaya AI secured $43.5 million to scale its expert AI agents for the finance sector.

• Cognichip, an AI chip design startup, raised $33 million in seed funding led by Lux Capital and Mayfield Fund to advance hardware for AI applications.

• Complement 1, a health-tech startup, raised $16 million in seed funding to develop AI-powered personalized lifestyle interventions for cancer patients.

Thought starters:

• AI is getting smarter. But are we?

• Microsoft says it provided AI to Israeli military for war but denies use to harm people in Gaza

Meme of the day:

Thanks for reading,

Eddie

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