The Global Codex Hackathon is a series of competitions hosted by OpenAI that sees partners develop highly practical AI agents using Codex, OpenAI’s system for software development. Held in cities around the world, including San Francisco and Singapore, the Global Codex Hackathon took place in Tokyo for the first time on April 22, 2026.
Employees from SB OAI Japan — a joint venture between SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434), SoftBank Group Corp. and OpenAI — competed at the event and took the top prize.
SB OAI Japan Team’s AI agent recognized for solving real-world operational challenges
The SB OAI Japan team — consisting of Hiroaki Katori, Naoto Tanaka and Su Yan — built a practical AI agent that supports full incident response flows when system failures occur. The agent performed a full range of tasks, from analyzing and monitoring data and logs, identifying root causes, creating remediation tasks, to preparing next steps for recovery.
What distinguished the project was not simply the technology itself, but its practicality and readiness for real-world enterprise operations.
SB OAI Japan’s Su Yan (left) Naoto Tanaka (right)
The SB OAI Japan team received high marks for deep integration with Codex, business impact, scalability and reusability, and for the quality of the demonstration and pitch. Judges praised the team for leveraging OpenAI’s advanced technology to create an AI agent with direct applications to real business operations.
Hiroaki Katori, who led the SB OAI Japan team, commented on the victory.
“On the day of the hackathon, we used Codex to organize system specifications and development tasks, collaborated with code management tools to review and verify changes, and efficiently tested and fixed the screen interface. Even within the limited timeframe of a single day, we were able to complete the full development cycle, from design and implementation to operational testing, which was a major achievement. The system was built without humans writing a single line of programming code. AI handled the coding, while humans focused entirely on verifying specifications and reviewing outputs. It made us realize that the division of roles and responsibilities in software development is changing dramatically. The experience also gave us a much better understanding of how Codex can be applied in real business environments.”
SB OAI Japan: New Brilliance. Brighter Future.
In 2026, SB OAI Japan will exclusively provide “Crystal intelligence” — a packaged enterprise AI solution that integrates OpenAI’s latest products with tailored implementation and system integration services — to the Japan market. By rolling out Crystal intelligence and supporting the utilization of AI that is deeply rooted in management and operational processes, SB OAI Japan will transform the management of Japan's companies.
(Posted on May 29, 2026)
by SoftBank News Editors
