Asana replaces five years of development work in two weeks with OpenAI Codex
Asana has replaced a five-year-old testing system in two weeks using OpenAI Codex. The work was originally estimated to take five years but was completed for approximately $12,000.

What happened?
According to a blog post from OpenAI, the productivity company Asana has replaced a five-year-old and obsolete testing system in two weeks using the code assistant OpenAI Codex. The project, which was initially estimated to require five years of manual engineering work, was completed at a total cost of approximately $12,000.
Key facts
| Tidsåtgång | 2 veckor (beräknat 5 år) |
|---|---|
| Projektkostnad | Cirka 12 000 USD |
| Teknik som användes | OpenAI Codex |
Why it matters
The project demonstrates how automated code-assistive models can accelerate the maintenance and upgrading of legacy codebases. By reducing the time required from years to weeks, the financial calculation for how companies manage technical debt is fundamentally altered.
Who is affected?
The news primarily concerns software engineers and product development teams evaluating AI tools for the automation of legacy codebases and test infrastructure. The results show how Codex can be utilized by software companies to streamline extensive code migrations.
Impact on the EU
The Codex tool is provided by the American company OpenAI, but the source mentions no restrictions regarding availability for users within the EU. It is also not clear from OpenAI's announcement whether the project is affected by EU regulations such as the AI Act or GDPR.
What else you should know
According to Asana, the cost for the update amounted to approximately $12,000 in token usage. This represents a significant difference compared to the traditional calculation of several years of work for the development team.
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- Assess technical risk: model choice, vendor lock-in, data flow and running cost.
- Update the architecture doc if new APIs or regulations touch production.
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