OpenAI's Codex Earns $16.88 by Completing Security Audit Over 22 Hours

According to a developer named Chris, OpenAI’s Codex completed an open-source security audit task over 22 hours and earned $16.88 on May 14, after being given a simple instruction to “make $5.” The AI independently identified a bounty program, completed and submitted the work, and followed up with maintainers. The experiment consumed approximately 22 million tokens across 10-15 audit projects, with this first payment now confirmed and additional pending audits awaiting verification. Chris calculated that if repeated daily, the monthly earnings would reach $506.40. This experiment is viewed as early validation of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s 2025 prediction that the first AI agents would “join the workforce” and substantially impact company output.