OpenAI Rewards 8,000 Developers With Free Codex Upgrade After GPT-5.5 Event
OpenAI gave more than 8,000 developers a major Codex upgrade after its invite-only GPT-5.5 launch party sold out. As a result, applicants received a tenfold increase in Codex rate limits on their personal ChatGPT accounts through June 5.
The offer applied to everyone who registered for the event, regardless of whether they received an invitation. In addition, posts on developer forums and Reddit confirmed the rollout shortly after the emails arrived. CEO Sam Altman had also hinted at the promotion on X before the event.
GPT-5.5 Helped Shape Its Own Celebration
The May 5 celebration took place at the company’s San Francisco headquarters and marked the launch of GPT-5.5. Earlier, Altman revealed during Stripe Sessions that he had asked GPT-5.5 how it wanted its launch party organized.
According to Altman, the model suggested “a beautiful set of things,” including holding the event on May 5, keeping speeches short, and asking its human creators to deliver a toast. However, the model specifically said it did not want to give a speech itself.
Altman shared the RSVP form on X on April 29, while Codex reportedly helped select attendees from the replies. Applications closed within 24 hours. Meanwhile, the company covered flights and hotel costs for selected guests traveling from outside San Francisco.
AI Rivals Intensify Developer Competition
The event arrived just before Anthropic’s Code with Claude developer conference in San Francisco. Therefore, many developers viewed the timing as part of the growing battle for developer attention between leading AI companies.
Anthropic announced its three-city conference tour in March, with additional events scheduled for London and Tokyo. Although in-person attendance requires lottery selection, the company continues to offer a free global livestream.
At the same time, OpenAI continues expanding Codex access to strengthen its developer ecosystem. Earlier this year, the company introduced a $100-per-month Pro subscription that includes higher Codex usage limits. GPT-5.5, which completed pre-training on March 24 and launched on April 23, now powers Codex for more than 10,000 Nvidia employees internally.
For thousands of developers who missed the launch party, the temporary Codex upgrade still provides a strong incentive to continue building within OpenAI’s platform.
