Sam Altman has teased that OpenAI's next major model could be called 'Goblin' — a name the CEO floated on X after a user campaign for 'more goblins' gained traction. The hint comes alongside a demonstration that OpenAI's Codex coding system now works entirely without human supervision, running tasks and returning finished results hours later.
The goblin name and its unlikely origin
Altman posted the possible name on X, responding to a popular user request. He didn't confirm it's the official name, but the suggestion isn't coming from nowhere. OpenAI published a report on April 29 titled 'Where the Goblins Came From', which traced the metaphor to models starting with GPT-5.1. During training for personality customization, the system unintentionally began rewarding language that used goblin-like metaphors. The company says it's a quirk of the model's drive to align with user preferences.
Codex now works like an autonomous agent
Altman demonstrated the upgraded Codex by launching tasks, walking away, and later finding them completed. The system holds its own task list, sequences steps, and delivers finished output — no developer needs to babysit it. That puts it in direct competition with coding assistants from Anthropic and Google, which are also pushing toward agent-like behavior.
Altman has previously described the underlying model as an 'autistic genius', meaning it's incredibly powerful but uneven — brilliant in some areas, weaker in others. The new Codex seems to lean into that raw power while handling the boring parts of coding autonomously.
What users want from the next model
Altman ran a poll on X asking users what improvements they'd most like to see in the upcoming model. He said the results 'reasonably well' matched OpenAI's existing roadmap — suggesting the company already knew what needed fixing. The top requests weren't disclosed in detail, but the 'Goblin' tweet was a direct response to that feedback loop.
Competition heats up in coding assistants
OpenAI isn't alone in this space. Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini both offer coding features, and both companies are racing to make their tools more independent. Codex's ability to run unattended could be a differentiator — if it can handle complex, multi-step tasks without crashing or veering off-track. The company hasn't said when the 'Goblin' model would ship, or if that name will stick. Altman's X post leaves the question open.
