OpenAI says ChatGPT and Codex are speeding hardware engineering

OpenAI said ChatGPT and Codex are helping with physical-product design, simulation and manufacturing across mechanical, electrical and systems engineering. The company said hardware-team model usage, measured in tokens, has risen to 23 times its February level. Two team members used Astra to design a test device in under a week, with a contract manufacturer producing a small prototype batch in under a month. OpenAI also noted that the model did not consistently account for production limits, tolerances or assembly details, so preparing the device for manufacturing required several rounds of human review and iteration.