OpenAI is locked in an increasingly intense battle with rival Anthropic over tools to create AI agents. The debut of the Codex app comes weeks after Anthropic launched a similar Claude Cowork product.

OpenAI gives an example of how this could work in practice. The company used Codex to create a Mario Kart-like racing game, complete with a selection of different playable cars, eight tracks and a collection of powerups players can use against the competition.

By launching a desktop app, OpenAI is catching up to Anthropic’s popular Claude Code, which already offered a macOS version. Whether the desktop app makes sense compared to the existing interfaces depends a little bit on who you are and how you intend to use it.

OpenAI launches Codex desktop app for AI coding, enabling multi-agent workflows, skills, and expanded access for ChatGPT users.

OpenAI is trying to win market share from rivals like Anthropic and Cursor as AI coding tools gain in popularity.

The app gives developers a centralized workspace to manage multiple AI coding agents across projects without losing task context, OpenAI said.

OpenAI is releasing a new app called Prism today, and it hopes it does for science what coding agents like Claude Code did for programming.

(Corrects first paragraph to show the app is on desktop, not mobile) By Deepa Seetharaman SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - OpenAI is launching a desktop app for its coding tool, Codex, in hopes of seizing momentum -- and customers -- from its rivals in the AI code-generation space.