OpenAI expands its business-to-business footprint, joining forces with consulting giants to promote Codex.

OpenAI is partnering with multiple consulting companies including Accenture, KPMG, and PwC to help sell its AI coding assistant Codex to businesses. OpenAI stated that the weekly active users of Codex have reached 4 million, up from 3 million two weeks ago. Last week, the company mentioned that 3 million developers were using the tool each week when it underwent a major update. The report indicates that this new Codex consulting program is part of the AI giant's strategic shift towards programming and enterprise business. Currently, the company is focused on reducing "side tasks". In the enterprise AI service market, OpenAI faces stiff competition from rival Anthropic. Anthropic has become a dominant AI supplier in the enterprise sector due to the success of its programming and AI agent products. OpenAI's Chief Revenue Officer, Denis DeRitis, stated in an interview that their Codex consulting partners will help the company reach more potential corporate customers than if they were working alone. DeRitis said, "It is our responsibility to bridge the gap between 'how to use, how to expand, and how to move faster', and these partnerships will allow us to extend this capability on a global scale." OpenAI did not specify the financial terms of the partner program. On Tuesday, OpenAI announced the hiring of Corinne Capasse as Vice President of Global Partnerships and Ecosystems. Capasse will report to DeRites. The report mentions that Capasse previously worked in Google Cloud and will oversee OpenAI's Codex consulting partners. DeRitis mentioned that in addition to helping clients with tasks such as updating code using Codex, consulting partners will also help integrate Codex into "every business area". The report adds that this includes knowledge work areas like marketing, finance, and sales that are currently not widely served by programming agents and tools. DeRitis mentioned that Codex and Frontier aim to automate all aspects of knowledge work. In February, Microsoft-backed OpenAI announced the launch of the Frontier platform to enter the profitable enterprise market further; the platform helps businesses build, deploy, and manage AI agents. To assist in deploying Frontier, the company has signed multi-year partnership agreements with Accenture, Boston Consulting Group, KPMG, and McKinsey. Regarding how Codex is applied in fields beyond software development, DeRitis gave an example of an AI agent named "Chief" built with Codex that can summarize meetings, write notes, and update Salesforce as well as various Slack channels. As part of the plan, OpenAI's Codex consulting partners will also have permission to use the AI programming tool. The report mentions that OpenAI has previously partnered with Bain & Company and PwC, helping to sell and use ChatGPT Enterprise Edition. Both Anthropic and OpenAI use consulting companies to promote the adoption of AI and agents internally in enterprises. Anthropic has not disclosed how many people are using its Claude Code tool, but in February, it mentioned that the weekly active users of its AI coding assistant had doubled since January 1st. DeRitis also added that OpenAI is collaborating with Codex consulting partners to establish Codex Labs, a program aimed at providing "hands-on workshops" for businesses to start using this programming tool.