TLDR: OpenAI has ‘acqui-hired’ the team behind Alex, an AI-powered coding assistant for Apple’s Xcode, to enhance its Codex division. The move, announced around early September 2025, sees Alex’s founder Daniel Edrisian and his team join OpenAI to work on advanced coding products, while the standalone Alex app will cease new downloads after October 1, 2025.
In a significant development within the artificial intelligence and software development sectors, OpenAI has announced the integration of the team behind Alex, a prominent AI coding assistant tailored for Apple’s Xcode environment. This strategic ‘acqui-hire,’ reported extensively between September 4th and 6th, 2025, sees the Alex team joining OpenAI’s specialized Codex division, which focuses on AI-driven coding products.
Alex, founded in 2024 and supported by Y Combinator, quickly established itself as a valuable tool for iOS and macOS developers. It provided seamless integration of advanced AI models directly into Xcode, aiming to streamline workflows, address complex coding challenges, and significantly boost developer productivity. The company had recently secured $5.3 million in funding, underscoring its innovative approach to enhancing the Apple development experience.
Daniel Edrisian, the founder of Alex, expressed his enthusiasm for the transition, stating that the team is honored to continue their work on a much larger scale at OpenAI. ‘When we started out, Xcode had no AI. Building a ‘Cursor for Xcode’ sounded crazy, but we managed to do it anyway,’ Edrisian remarked, highlighting their pioneering efforts in creating the best coding agent for iOS and macOS applications. He added that their mission to help people create is now more possible than ever with OpenAI’s resources.
This move by OpenAI is consistent with its past strategy of bringing in talented teams from startups rather than undertaking full corporate acquisitions. The integration of the Alex team is expected to further accelerate OpenAI’s research and development efforts in AI-powered coding, particularly in the wake of Apple’s recent updates to Xcode, which have introduced native AI features, including ChatGPT integration.
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Regarding the future of the Alex application, it has been confirmed that the app will cease new downloads after October 1, 2025. However, existing users who have the app installed will continue to receive service, though no new features will be released. The Alex team’s expertise in creating an AI-native runtime for Apple developers, capable of reading, writing, running, debugging, and shipping code alongside Xcode, is now poised to contribute to OpenAI’s broader vision for the future of coding.
