Cisco Builds AI Defense with Codex

TL;DR: Cisco used OpenAI Codex to shrink AI defense system development from quarters to weeks, and open-sourced a tool called defense claw built in under a week. ## Rebuilding AI Defense with Codex Cisco is using Codex to write the vast majority of its AI defense system. Every new feature is 100% written by Codex. "Codex wrote most of the AI defense system, and every new feature we're building is 100% written by Codex." ## A Leap in Engineer Productivity AI defense features that used to take multiple quarters to ship to customers now take just weeks, after giving every engineer access to Codex. This shift has completely transformed the team's delivery cadence. "Every engineer on our AI defense team is equipped with Codex. What used to take quarters to get into customers' hands now takes weeks." ## Open-Source Tool: defense claw The team built an open-source tool called **defense claw**. From concept to completion — including making it available for developers in the open-source community — the entire process took less than a week. "We built an open-source tool called defense claw, from concept to completion to making it available for developers in the open-source community — all in under a week. It's just incredible." ## Changing Engineer Mindset Codex hasn't just accelerated development; it's changed how engineers think about their backlog. Instead of "small, medium, large" T-shirt sizing for tasks, now the only question is how long a single Codex run will take. This shift in reference frame makes engineers far more ambitious. "When you look at your backlog, you usually do T-shirt sizing — small, medium, large. Big tasks mean lots of effort. I think a fundamental change is happening: people's frame of reference for what's on their backlog has shifted. They just think about how long one Codex run will take to finish those tasks. It's fascinating." ## Source YouTube: Cisco Builds AI Defense with Codex – OpenAI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRsn3pyeXuw)