OpenAI raises Codex default context to 500k tokens

Day 7/ We have increased default context length for GPT-6.1 Sol to 500k when used through Codex & Work, up from 272k or an ~ 80% increase. We will go higher in the future, but it helps reduce occurrence of compactions and with tasks that require keeping a lot of context and nuance over periods of time. It was carefully tested and is the new sweet spot for most of our users. You can still override it if you want to be higher our lower, with maximum context length of GPT-6.1 Sol of 1M.

I think Terrence Tao is directionally correct, we shouldn’t settle for a super intelligence that is opaque. A key signal of intelligence is communication. We should strive to make products and models that build understanding with humans instead of disintermediating them.

this mathematician won the 2026 Fields Medal, then stepped away from academia to join OpenAI’s safety team. what’s fascinating is how balanced his view is on AI. his story is WILD: >be Jacob Tsimerman >spend 13 years on a math problem >win the 2026 Fields Medal >an LLM finds a mistake in one of your proofs >you fix it, but the LLM couldn't >“I think my part is going to be very small” >realize where things are going >imagine AI solving decade-long math problems in weeks or even days >say mathematics will advance too fast for humans to keep up >AI will generate conjectures, prove theorems, and invent new definitions on its own >people argue humans will still be needed to develop new mathematical theories >“Why won't AIs be able to do this as well?” >point out that even your own theorems…

From Le Monde. OpenAI actually sat on this release for a long time, and formed the independent Advisory Group on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence to 'serve as a bridge to the mathematical community'. I think that attempt was sincere, but appears to have had mixed results.