# Codex from 0 to 10M Users: Building ChatGPT Work — Akshay Nathan, OpenAI

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/latent-space-ai-engineer/codex-from-0-to-10m-users-building-chatgpt-work-akshay-nathan-openai
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/latent-space-ai-engineer/codex-from-0-to-10m-users-building-chatgpt-work-akshay-nathan-openai.md
Podcast: [Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/latent-space-ai-engineer)
Published: 2026-07-28T15:26:30+00:00
Episode link: https://www.latent.space/p/chatgpt-work
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/208716574/1644ff34767eacc3e04d93b5c8621905.mp3
Processing state: processed
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/latent-space-ai-engineer/episodes/codex-from-0-to-10m-users-building-chatgpt-work-akshay-nathan-openai
Duration seconds: 4168

## Resource

OpenAI's Codex is evolving from a developer tool into a 'superapp' for general knowledge work. Akshay Nathan explains how the transition from coding agents to productivity agents is driving massive user growth.

## Highlights
- Main idea: The expansion from coding agents to knowledge work agents is the next frontier for AI utility
- Practical takeaway: Focus on 'at bats'—the ability to rapidly iterate from idea to validation—rather than just output volume
- Failure mode: Avoid the trap of conflating 'motion' (activity enabled by AI) with actual 'progress' (achieving deliberate goals)
- Trend: Non-developers are adopting Codex-powered tools at a rate 3x faster than traditional engineers
- Strategic shift: Moving from 'telling' users how to use tools to 'showing' them through agentic capabilities like artifacts and computer use

## Topics

OpenAI, ChatGPT Work, Codex, AI Agents, Productivity Engineering, Knowledge Work, Software Development, No-code

## Chapters
- 1:00 — The Thesis of No-Code: Reflecting on the transition from Airtable to OpenAI and the dream of making database primitives accessible via LLMs.
- 6:00 — The Codex Inflection Point: Discussing the unexpected surge in adoption among non-developers and the move toward a 'superapp' model.
- 17:00 — The Role of Model Intelligence: How improvements in model quality and cost allow for more complex, automated productivity workflows.
- 27:00 — Scaling Infrastructure and Product: The engineering challenges of building the infrastructure necessary to support massive user growth and agentic features.
- 38:00 — The Future of Agentic Work: How agents will eventually have access to a user's entire digital environment to create and manage artifacts.
- 1:04:00 — Motion vs. Progress: A critical distinction for managers: using AI to drive meaningful outcomes rather than just increasing the volume of tasks.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/latent-space-ai-engineer/episodes/codex-from-0-to-10m-users-building-chatgpt-work-akshay-nathan-openai/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/latent-space-ai-engineer/codex-from-0-to-10m-users-building-chatgpt-work-akshay-nathan-openai.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.