Your First AI Employee

What the new ChatGPT app actually is

ChatGPT now includes Codex, which can work on files and run commands. That changes what you can ask for.

Meet Codex

What your new employee is allowed to touch, which model to pick, and why you start it on a short leash.

Your first delegation

Ten minutes from now, Codex will have done a real chore for you. That feeling is the whole course.

Writing a delegation brief

The difference between a prompt and a brief is the difference between hoping and managing.

Giving it your stuff

Materials turn general advice into work grounded in your files. Here is how to hand them to Codex safely.

Build: your Voice DNA file

Build the first version of a reusable voice-dna.md from patterns in your real writing.

Calibrate it until it sounds like you

A voice file gets useful through a loop: draft, compare, correct, update, and test again.

Reading agent work without reading code

Review the work the way an editor reviews a draft: judge the result by what it does.

Prove it works

Treat 'done' as a claim, then ask for proof you can check yourself.

Redo vs. refine

Bad output gives you evidence for the next, better brief.

Context rot

When a long chat starts slipping, I use a fresh thread and a short handoff to get the work clear again.

Extending your employee

Out of the box, Codex is a generalist. Plugins are how you hand it your industry's toolbox.

Build: put it on a schedule

Build one verified Monday digest, then schedule it to return to a ChatGPT task each week.

Computer use

Some jobs live on a screen. Computer Use lets your employee borrow your mouse while you supervise.

Build: your first personal tool

You have briefed, reviewed, and scheduled. Now build the small tool you have always wanted.

The delegation playbook

Everything you learned, on one page you will actually use.