OpenAI to fix Codex blocks after $500 ban

An X user called log4j wrote on the 23rd of October 2026 that OpenAI banned him over reverse engineering, at a cost of 500 dollars. Reverse engineering means taking software apart to see how it works.

On the 26th of October, OpenAI staff member roon replied that such Codex blocks were mostly accidental. Codex is OpenAI's AI coding helper.

What the user said

log4j wrote that he lost 500 dollars and "a bunch of banked resets", meaning saved usage. He said he did "only local reverse engineering which tripped daybreak".

He wrote that he never used OpenAI to find or exploit security holes. His post passed 2.7 million views on X.

The reply from OpenAI staff

Eric Raymond, a well-known open source developer, wrote to OpenAI and Anthropic on the 25th of October. He said blocking people who clean "spamware and spyware out of their televisions" pushes paying users to "Chinese open-weight models".

About an hour later, roon wrote that the blocks "are mostly accidental and a result of difficult decision boundaries". He added: "there is no prohibition against reverse engineering with codex. it's getting fixed".

What Anthropic says

Anthropic has published no statement on REA, a free tool that lets an AI agent study installed apps. Its page of the 6th of October says its public models "block most cyber work".

Anthropic points security workers to its Cyber Verification Program, which gives checked users wider access.

Below we break down the numbers

log4j's post had about 2.72 million views and roon's reply about 216,000. That is about 13 views of the ban for every 1 view of the fix, by our arithmetic.

What is confirmed and what is not

roon's reply is a post by one OpenAI employee. OpenAI has published no blog post or rule change on it.

Key facts

log4j said an OpenAI ban cost him 500 dollars.

roon said the Codex blocks were mostly accidental and are being fixed.

Codex has no rule against reverse engineering, roon wrote.

Anthropic says its public models block most cyber work.