OpenAI has officially launched its first piece of hardware, and it’s called the Codex Micro. It might sound like a retro computer in a Dan Brown book, but the Codex Micro is actually a very compact keyboard for coders.
How does it work? In this article, we’ll dive into exactly what the Codex Micro is and the point of the device, as well as how it aims to make life easier for programmers – and then we’ll get to the reaction of these coders (hold on to your hats, folks).
What is Codex Micro?
As already mentioned, it is a keyboard, but a keyboard with a very specific purpose. OpenAI produced this peripheral in conjunction with Work Louder, and it’s actually a tiny keyboard – more of a keyboard, if you will, or a ‘macropad’, similar to pads Work Louder has produced before, like the Creator Micro 2 – made for coders using Codex.
What is Codex? It’s OpenAI’s coding agent, which can help people write programs, tackle debugging tasks, or actually write code from scratch prompted by simple natural language instructions (vibe coding, as it’s known).
What exactly does Codex Micro do?
The idea of the Codex Micro is that you have a compact keyboard that allows you to easily switch between coding tasks (agents) with dedicated keys that have RGB lights to indicate their status at a glance. If there’s an unread chat, you’ll see a green light or an orange light if the user’s approval is needed, and so on.
There are other keys for voice dictation (hold and speak to give instructions – there’s no built-in mic by the way, this triggers your laptop’s mic), a dial to adjust the level of reasoning or how deep the AI agent thinks (although that can be changed to change other options), and a joystick that you can map to whatever you need. The entire keyboard is fully customizable, it should be noted.
All of this is designed so that coders can quickly issue instructions, see what’s happening with agents and tasks at a glance, and quickly switch between them and make changes in an easy and convenient way.
Who wants to buy Codex Micro?
It’s clear enough that coders using Codex are the target audience. Think of it this way: If Codex is a faster way to code, OpenAI wants Codex Micro to be an additional hardware-based speed boost to this whole process.
It costs $230 in the US (around £170, AU$330), although it’s not in stock yet, and it’s clear that this isn’t a consumer-oriented device.
However, OpenAI has plans for consumer hardware. If the rumor mill is to be believed, it could have a laptop in the works – or indeed a smart speaker, according to recent speculation. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, this will be a smart speaker that uses mechanical elements to create a “sense of being alive,” and it will tap into your emails and other personal data to better “understand” you. Sounds scary, right? Really scary. However, it is only a rumour.
What is the general reaction to Codex Micro from programmers?
Look at
The smart speaker I just mentioned has already drawn some antagonistic reactions, and judging by the posts on the Codex Micro, it doesn’t fare much better than the rumored creation.
In particular, there are a number of Redditors questioning whether this is April 1st and some sort of joke. There is a lot of shrugging going on, or observations that you can easily buy a cheap macropad and make your own solution along these lines for a tenth of the price OpenAI charges. Or indeed, that there could just be a simple phone app version of this product (with buttons and sliders on the screen).
As one Redditor puts it: “Yeah, it’s like every major tech product now. Instead of a full keyboard, it’s only 12 keys and it’s $230. It honestly feels like a prank and not a real product.”
Others feel this is something serious coders won’t touch with a 10-foot pole. And I can’t count the number of “looks like they asked ChatGPT to design a great product and ran with it” comments that are on Reddit.
So far, the reaction has been fairly negative from the target market. There are hardly any posts that say, ‘I want to buy this,’ and there is one lot of disbelief expressed at the attached price tag (even among the thin ranks of interested parties).
The broader idea might be that OpenAI is testing the hardware waters with a sort of initial practice launch here, ahead of the bigger consumer product to come, whether it’s a smart speaker or laptop (perhaps both). Although if that’s the case, why the price of the Codex Micro is so high is a bit of a head scratcher – or maybe it’s some sort of test and also a sign of things to come?
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds.
The best laptops for all budgets
