OpenAI will acquire Ona to enhance Codex’s cloud execution capabilities, driving continuous autonomous operation of AI agents

Odaily Planet Daily reported that OpenAI has officially announced the acquisition of Ona, a developer cloud execution platform. The specific acquisition amount has not been disclosed. Its secure cloud execution and task orchestration technology will be integrated into OpenAI's rapidly expanding Codex ecosystem, further enhancing the long-term operational capabilities of AI agents in software development and knowledge work scenarios. Currently, more than 5 million people use Codex weekly for research, analysis, building, and task automation, a 400% increase compared to earlier this year. Initially designed for software developers, Codex has now expanded to support the full workflow from user needs to completing complex tasks.

As AI agent capabilities improve, OpenAI believes that more high-value tasks in the future will last for hours or even days, rather than being limited to single sessions. By integrating Ona's technology, Codex will be able to continue running even after users close their devices, allowing users to remotely view progress, provide instructions, make decisions, and review results.

OpenAI stated that enterprise deployment of AI agents in the future will require not only powerful model capabilities but also security, governance, and operational control. Ona's customer-managed execution mode will allow enterprises to control agent operation locations, access permissions, credential scope, operation logs, and workflow review mechanisms, while OpenAI provides the underlying intelligence and task orchestration capabilities. This acquisition will further drive the evolution of Codex from a single-device, single-session tool to a long-running AI agent platform for enterprise production environments.