OpenAI staff replaced chatbots with agents — and output surged
openai reports codex agents now account for 99.8% of internal output tokens, signaling a shift from chatbots to long-horizon task delegation.
openai research reveals that codex agents, which perform long-horizon tasks, have completely superseded chatbots internally, accounting for 99.8% of generated tokens as of june 2026. 80.6% of users now delegate tasks exceeding 30 minutes of human work, and top users generate over 60 hours of agent work daily. the data shows non-technical departments like legal and recruiting have rapidly adopted these tools to perform coding and automation outside their traditional job descriptions, suggesting a fundamental restructuring of knowledge work.