From VS Code to Codex: How AI Is Changing Programming

What is OpenAI Codex?

OpenAI Codex is not an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like Visual Studio Code (VS Code); rather, it is a powerful artificial intelligence model designed to understand and generate code. Built on top of GPT-3, Codex was trained on a massive amount of open-source code and programming-related content, enabling it to translate natural language into working code and to explain code in plain language.

Typically, developers write code inside IDEs such as VS Code. However, VS Code itself does not have built-in AI capabilities. This is where GitHub Copilot comes in. Copilot acts as a bridge between the IDE and Codex. When a developer starts typing or writes a comment describing what they want, Copilot sends this input to Codex. Codex then analyzes the request and returns relevant code suggestions or completions, which Copilot displays directly in the editor.

In this way, Codex does not function as a standalone tool like VS Code, but rather as the “AI brain” working behind the scenes. VS Code provides the environment, Copilot serves as the mediator, and Codex is the source of intelligent code generation.

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