After Launching Vibe Coding App Codex for Mac, Sam Altman Says He Feels Sad and Useless
Sam Altman says building an app with Codex was fun but he felt “a little useless” after the AI suggested better ideas he had.
A day after OpenAI launched a new standalone Codex app for Apple computers, CEO Sam Altman shared an unusually personal moment about working with its AI product. In a post on
Altman wrote that he recently used Codex to build an app for himself. Once they got the basics right, they started asking the AI for suggestions to improve it. That’s when things took a turn. “At least some of them were better than the ones I was thinking of,” he said, a realization that forced him to stop. “I felt a little useless and it was sad.”
The tweet immediately attracted attention, not only because of Altman’s honesty, but also because it came right after OpenAI launched Codex as a dedicated Mac app. The app, which is currently available to all ChatGPT users with an Apple computer for a limited time, is designed to make “vibe coding” easier by letting developers work with multiple AI agents from a single location.
OpenAI describes the Codex app as a command center for developers. Instead of chatting with one assistant at a time, users can run multiple AI agents in parallel, each working on different tasks or parts of the project. These agents work in separate threads organized by project, allowing developers to review changes, collaborate, and continue long-running tasks without losing track.
An AI agent, in this context, is much more than just a chatbot. It can independently perform tasks such as writing and refining code on behalf of the user. Codex also includes a library of built-in skills, such as image generation, to help agents handle tasks beyond plain coding.
The past year has seen massive adoption of AI coding tools and Codex is no exception. OpenAI said that more than one million developers used the codec in the last month alone. The company first introduced the codec in April and made it widely available in October. The new Mac app is the latest step toward growing the product, especially as competition increases from rivals like Anthropic and Cursor, which are also targeting developers with similar tools.
Internally, the codex has also made a strong impact. Altman told reporters that it was “our favorite internal product ever.” He said the OpenAI team is making the most of it and described the experience as “absolutely amazing”. “I’m staying up late at night with excitement and making all kinds of things myself,” he said.
Access to the codecs is typically tied to a ChatGPT subscription, which includes the Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu plans, with options to purchase additional credits. However, with the launch of the app, OpenAI has opened up the codec to free users and its low-cost Go tier for a short period of time. Existing paid users are also getting a temporary boost, with rate caps doubled across all plans.