SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI has unveiled an upgraded iteration of OpenAI Codex, their advanced AI system designed for translating natural language into code, now accessible through a private beta release via their API.

Codex, the technology behind GitHub Copilot developed in collaboration with GitHub, expands on its capabilities across more than a dozen programming languages. It enables the interpretation and execution of straightforward commands expressed in natural language, facilitating the creation of natural language interfaces for existing applications. OpenAI invites businesses and developers to leverage Codex through their API, encouraging innovation atop this powerful platform.

Derived from GPT-3, OpenAI Codex integrates vast datasets encompassing both natural language and billions of lines of publicly available source code from platforms like GitHub. While particularly proficient in Python, it also demonstrates competence in languages such as JavaScript, Go, Perl, PHP, Ruby, Swift, TypeScript, and Shell. Notably, Codex boasts a memory capacity for Python code that surpasses its predecessor, GPT-3, enabling it to consider over three times the contextual information during task execution.

Where GPT-3 excels in generating natural language responses, Codex distinguishes itself by generating functional code in response to natural language prompts. This functionality opens avenues for users to interact with software via English commands, enhancing computers’ comprehension of user intent and thereby broadening the scope of computational capabilities.

OpenAI Codex serves as a versatile programming model applicable to a wide array of tasks, from code transpilation and explanation to code refactoring. Positioned for expansive adoption, OpenAI plans to scale Codex availability cautiously, ensuring continued safety measures akin to those established with GPT-3. During the initial phase, OpenAI offers Codex through its API free of charge, aiming to collaboratively explore and expand its potential applications in collaboration with developers.

To explore the capabilities of Codex, developers can now access the private beta release via OpenAI’s API.