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Codex report: Four months of building joy on my Mac with ChatGPT

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Why This Matters

This article highlights the evolving capabilities of AI tools like ChatGPT and Codex on Mac, emphasizing their growing role in automating tasks and enhancing productivity for users. The integration of Codex's Computer Use plugin marks a significant step toward more autonomous AI assistants that can interact with applications seamlessly, impacting both developers and consumers by expanding AI's practical utility in everyday computing.

Key Takeaways

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In 2023, early adopters were just getting to know ChatGPT and AI chatbot tech. Three years later, OpenAI’s Codex agent, now part of the ChatGPT desktop app, has brought about a similar season of learning. Here’s how I’m using ChatGPT, Codex, and more on my Mac.

The summer I turned Codex

Like a billion other people, ChatGPT has become a regular part of my tech stack. But I’m a writer, not a programmer, so Codex as an agentic coding app didn’t immediately appeal to me.

That started to change in April when Codex for Mac added Computer Use.

First, a brief history lesson.

Back in December 2014, Ari Weinstein and friends launched a new iOS 8 app for mobile automation. Here’s my 9to5Mac coverage of Workflow’s launch, a friendlier version of OS X’s Automator made for iPhone and iPad.

In March 2017, Apple bought Workflow. Workflow gained system integration and became Apple Shortcuts with iOS 12 in 2018.

Weinstein and other Workflow veterans later left Apple to create Software Applications Incorporated. The startup previewed Sky, a modern AI assistant on the Mac, before being acquired by OpenAI.

Sky never publicly launched. Instead, Codex for Mac delivered the technology in April in the form of the Computer Use plugin.

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