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OpenAI will acquire Pierre Computer Company, the developer of open-source coding tools, to expand its Codex platform's capabilities in building, understanding and reviewing software, as it looks to strengthen the role of AI agents across the software development process.
The acquisition will bring Pierre's team and technology into OpenAI's developer ecosystem, building on tools that are already used in the Codex application. These include Trees, which helps developers navigate project files, and Diffs, which allows them to review changes in code. OpenAI said the acquisition would help it improve the Git-based workflows that developers rely on and adapt them to teams increasingly working with coding agents. "We want to make Codex the place where developers and agents take on their most ambitious projects," the company said in its announcement. Pierre has also developed Highlights, a syntax-highlighting tool designed to update quickly as developers type or AI agents generate code. Its Diffs tool includes an Edit mode that allows reviewers to modify code directly while examining changes. The company is also behind Code Storage, a service that allows applications to store code and track its history using Git. OpenAI said its engineering work had shown that systems built around Git needed to evolve as more software development tasks were being carried out in parallel by AI agents. Earlier this week, the company also outlined its efforts to scale Git through Pando, an in-house source control backend developed for its engineers and AI agents. Following the acquisition, OpenAI aims to bring together the tools used across different stages of software development, from creating a new branch to deploying code. It said the broader ambition was to connect the code companies release with the decisions made by their teams. Pierre's open-source projects will remain open-source, and OpenAI said it would continue contributing to them. Existing customers will also be able to use Code Storage after the acquisition closes, while the company works to bring its features into Codex. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The development follows OpenAI's broader push to expand its capabilities through acquisitions and partnerships. In October, the company acquired drug development platform Orchestra Bio to bring AI tools into pharmaceutical research and development. It also partnered with cybersecurity research firm Cathedral to work with external security experts and advanced AI models to identify vulnerabilities and strengthen AI-powered cyber defence systems. (ANI)
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