Cisco Builds AI Defense with Codex

Why It Matters

Cisco’s Codex‑driven workflow slashes development cycles, enabling faster AI‑security innovations and reshaping industry standards for software delivery.

Key Takeaways

• Codex authored all new AI Defense features at Cisco.
• Development time shrank from quarters to weeks using Codex.
• Open‑source tool “defense claw” launched in under one week.
• Engineers now size backlog by Codex run time, not effort.
• Codex enables more ambitious projects and faster delivery cycles.

Summary

Cisco announced that its AI Defense suite is now being written entirely by OpenAI's Codex, turning the large‑language model into a co‑developer for its security products.

By leveraging Codex, Cisco reduced feature delivery from multiple quarters to a matter of weeks. The team also released “defense claw,” an open‑source tool, from concept to public availability in under one week, demonstrating the speed gains.

As a senior engineer noted, “every new feature that we’re building is 100 % written by Codex,” and the backlog is now measured by “how long a Codex run will take,” reshaping project sizing.

This acceleration could give Cisco a competitive edge in the crowded AI‑security market, while the open‑source release invites broader community contributions and sets a precedent for AI‑augmented software development.

Original Description

AI Defense is Cisco's end-to-end AI security solution that protects against safety and security risks introduced by AI. Codex was used by Cisco's team to write the majority of AI Defense and nearly every new feature that Cisco is building.

"Features that would have taken several quarters to get into customers' hands dropped to weeks." - DJ Sampath

➡️ Read how Cisco is making AI-native development a core part of how enterprise software gets built: https://lnkd.in/e4CWAtpf