a16z Podcast
OpenAI’s Codex has already shipped hundreds of thousands of pull requests in its first month. But what is it really, and how will coding agents change the future of software?
In this episode, General Partner Anjney Midha goes behind the scenes with one of Codex’s product leads- Alexander Embiricos – to unpack its origin story, why its PR success rate is so high, the safety challenges of autonomous agents, and what this all means for developers, students, and the future of coding.
Timecodes:
0:00 Intro: The Vision for AI Agents
1:25 Codex’s Origin and Naming
3:20 Early Prototypes and Agent Form Factors
6:00 Cloud Agents: Safety and Security
9:40 Prompt Injection and Attack Vectors
12:00 PR Merging: Metrics and Transparency
17:00 The Future of Code Review and Automation
20:00 User Adoption: Internal vs. External Surprises
22:00 Multi-Turn Interactions and Product Learnings
29:30 Best-of-N, Slot Machine Analogy, and Creativity
33:00 Human Taste, Iteration, and Collaboration
40:00 AI’s Impact on Software Engineering Careers
45:00 Education, CS Degrees, and AI Integration
49:00 Prototyping, Hackathons, and Speed to Magic
55:00 Legacy Code, Modernization, and Global Adoption
1:00:00 Enterprise, Security, and Air-Gapped Environments
1:05:00 Product Roadmap and Future of Codex
1:10:00 Advice for Founders and Startups
1:15:00 Education Reform and Project-Based Learning
1:20:00 Hiring, Building, and New Grad Advice
Resources:
Find Alex on X: https://x.com/embirico
Find Anjney on X: https://twitter.com/AnjneyMidha
Stay Updated:
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends!
Find a16z on X: https://x.com/a16z
Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z
Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX
Listen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711
Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Stay Updated:
Find a16z on X
Find a16z on LinkedIn
Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify
Listen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

-
Alex Danco on Speechwriting, Blogging, and Giving Founders Power
Fresh off the announcement of his move from Shopify to a16z, Alex Danco joins TBPN to talk about the “trade deal” that brought him here and his mission to make the firm’s written content truly…
-
Steven Sinofsky & Balaji Srinivasan on the Future of AI, Tech, & the Global World Order
There’s been a wave of M&A deals lately – Meta and Scale, Windsurf and Google – and a lot of it points to something bigger: how regulation, capital, and innovation are colliding in 2025. In…
-
Marc Andreessen: Why Perfect Products Become Obsolete
In this episode, Marc Andreessen joins TBPN for an unfiltered conversation spanning everything from ads in LLMs to why Apple’s AI strategy may be risky for anyone not named Apple. Marc breaks down the current…
-
GPT-5 Breakdown – w/ OpenAI Researchers Isa Fulford & Christina Kim
ChatGPT-5 just launched, marking a major milestone for OpenAI and the entire AI ecosystem. Fresh off the live stream, Erik Torenberg was joined in the studio by three people who played key roles in making…
-
How to Build a Successful Company in an Era of Disruption
What happens when a startup becomes a giant—and then has to reinvent itself all over again? In this episode, Martin Casado sits down with Raghu Raghuram (former CEO of VMware) and Jeetu Patel (President and…
-
Dwarkesh and Noah Smith on AGI and the Economy
In this episode, Erik Torenberg is joined in the studio by Dwarkesh Patel and Noah Smith to explore one of the biggest questions in tech: what exactly is artificial general intelligence (AGI), and how close…
-
Balaji on How Tech Truly Wins Media
What really caused the breakdown between tech and media—and what comes next? Erik Torenberg sits down with Balaji Srinivasan (entrepreneur, investor, and author of The Network State) to explore the long-building conflict between Silicon Valley…
-
AI Content and the War for Your Attention
What happens when AI starts generating content for everyone—and no one wants to watch it? In this episode, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and ad tech veteran Antonio García Martínez join a16z General Partner, Erik Torenberg to…
-
Balaji Srinivasan: How AI Will Change Politics, War, and Money
a16z General Partners Erik Torenberg and Martin Casado sit down with technologist and investor Balaji Srinivasan to explore how the metaphors we use to describe AI—whether as god, swarm, tool, or oracle—reveal as much about…
-
Balaji Srinivasan: How AI Will Change Politics, War, and Money
a16z General Partners Erik Torenberg and Martin Casado sit down with technologist and investor Balaji Srinivasan to explore how the metaphors we use to describe AI—whether as god, swarm, tool, or oracle—reveal as much about…