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Codex usage increased 6x since February (2026), now exceeding 5 million weekly…

2026-06-28 · 19:25 UTC ·@lennysan ·1 min read

Brief

Andrew Ambrosino, who leads the Codex desktop app at OpenAI, reports the product grew 6x since February to over 5M weekly active users and is used by nearly all OpenAI employees. He frames his mission as building "the best desktop app" and argues timing and model upgrades (November vs. February) determined the app's success; the interview covers PM "zone defense," design limits of AI, "taste," workflows, and Codex+ChatGPT plans.

Why it matters

Codex usage increased 6x since February (2026), now exceeding 5 million weekly active users; nearly 100% of OpenAI employees reportedly use the Codex desktop app regularly.

Key details

  • Andrew Ambrosino, lead of the Codex desktop app at OpenAI, says his mission is to build "the best desktop app that has ever existed" and claims the app would have flopped if shipped in November instead of February because the underlying model changed.
  • Key topics from the conversation: OpenAI PMs' "zone defense" operating model, why AI performs poorly at design, the professional skill of "taste," how Ambrosino uses Codex to run workflows, and his vision for integrating Codex with ChatGPT.
Source evidence

"When anybody can build anything, the taste to know what to build becomes the whole game." — @ajambrosino

piped.video/watch?v=P3KDebPT…

Video

Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan)

Andrew Ambrosino (@ajambrosino) leads the team behind the Codex desktop app at @OpenAI. Codex usage has 6x'd since February, reaching over 5M weekly active users, and nearly 100% of OpenAI's employees use the Codex app regularly (and not just the engineers).

Andrew's personal mission is to build "the best desktop app that has ever existed, full stop." If you've used the Codex app lately, you know he's not far off from that goal.

In our in-depth conversation, we discuss:
🔸 The "zone defense" model of how PMs at OpenAI operate
🔸 Why AI is so bad at design
🔸 Why Andrew thinks the Codex app would have flopped if they'd shipped it in November instead of February (same product—only the model changed)
🔸 What “taste” really means as a professional skill
🔸 How Andrew uses Codex to run his workflows
🔸 His vision for Codex + ChatGPT

Listen now 👇
piped.video/P3KDebPTUrw

Link

OpenAI Codex lead on the new shape of product work | Andrew Ambrosino

Andrew Ambrosino leads development of the Codex desktop app at Open...
youtube.com

— https://nitter.net/lennysan/status/2071294324999115057#m