nother day, another coding tool upgrade, this time from OpenAI.
On Thursday, OpenAI began rolling out plugins in its agentic coding platform, Codex. OpenAI describes plugins as “installable bundles for reusable Codex workflow” that can contain skills, apps, and MCP servers, with more components coming soon.
Simply put, plugins let users integrate ready-made workflows or app integrations, such as Google Drive, GitHub or Slack, into their Codex workspace. These plugins, created by OpenAI, are available in the Codex directory, but users can also create their own plugins or import them from another ecosystem.
Beyond expanding what users can do in Codex, plugins also streamline processes and make it easier to share setups across projects or teams. These advantages will likely boost developer productivity, but the real appeal is that Claude Code users have had access to this for a while, underscoring OpenAI's recent push to capture a larger enterprise audience.
That push appears tied to a larger goal: preparing for a possible IPO, something CFO Sarah Friar acknowledged directly when pressed on the topic.
“Over the long run, look, we have to build a company that’s ready to be a public company, ” Friar told CNBC.
Part of that effort means cutting costs and leaning into more lucrative opportunities, such as enterprise.
This week, OpenAI announced the shutdown of its Sora generative AI video platform and app, just six months after launch, and, as a result, ended its $1 billion content partnership with Disney. Separately, the Financial Times reported that OpenAI was “indefinitely” putting on hold its ChatGPT “adult mode,” which was supposed to allow users to create erotic content.
Friar added that the enterprise business is “a very profitable business at scale, and that’s how we will build a sustainable business model.” Currently, 60% of OpenAI's revenue comes from consumers and 40% from enterprise, but Friar expects that to reach a 50-50 split by year's end.
Anthropic is the clearest example of the success that comes from enterprise businesses, as the company has focused on enterprise offerings, and as a result, roughly 80% of its revenue comes from enterprises, according to CEO Dario Amodei.
Our Deeper View
Having closely tracked OpenAI and the broader AI industry since 2022, I find this more focused approach encouraging, as it finally addresses a persistent problem: AI for the sake of AI. The race has occasionally seemed oriented around producing the flashiest developments rather than the most practical ones, prioritizing novelty over utility. OpenAI's new enterprise focus should help ensure these tools are actually solving real problems for real people, which is a win for everyone.