OpenAI outlines ChatGPT coding work for less common languages
By Automate Basics, written with AI from OpenAI's original
OpenAI says it is working to improve ChatGPT across less common programming languages. Its announcement mentions new evaluations for software engineering, SQLite and COBOL migration, but does not say whether a new capability is available.
What changed
OpenAI says it is working to improve how ChatGPT handles less common programming languages. The company’s announcement also mentions new evaluations covering software engineering, SQLite and COBOL migration. The available title and summary do not describe a particular feature release or explain how those evaluations work.
For someone handling older code or a less commonly used language, the distinction matters. OpenAI is describing an area of development, not providing enough detail to conclude that ChatGPT can now complete a migration or produce more reliable code. There are no results in the available summary to compare with earlier performance.
Who can use ChatGPT for this work?
People who already use ChatGPT for coding may find the announcement relevant if their work involves SQLite, COBOL migration or a less common programming language. OpenAI does not identify specific plans, access requirements or a price for anything described in the available title and summary. It also does not say that users need to turn on a new feature.
Treat the news as an indication of what OpenAI is working on, rather than a purchasing or rollout notice. Teams considering ChatGPT for these tasks still need to judge its output against their own code and requirements. The available information does not establish which languages or migration tasks ChatGPT handles well.
How do I try it at work?
A small, familiar coding task is a sensible place to assess ChatGPT for the work OpenAI mentions. For example, someone maintaining a SQLite query or planning a COBOL migration could ask for an explanation of a piece of code they are permitted to share. The announcement does not provide a recommended prompt or a procedure for testing the claimed improvements.
Check the response against the original code, expected behaviour and your team’s usual review process before using it. Look closely for omitted conditions, changed data handling or assumptions about code the model has not seen. Those checks are especially important here because the available announcement does not provide evaluation results or define the limits of ChatGPT’s coding ability.
Frequently asked questions
Did OpenAI release a new ChatGPT coding feature?
The available announcement says OpenAI is improving ChatGPT across less common programming languages and mentions new evaluations. It does not identify a newly released feature, a rollout date or a way to access a specific change.
Does OpenAI say ChatGPT can migrate COBOL code?
OpenAI mentions COBOL migration as an area covered by new evaluations. The available title and summary do not give results or say that ChatGPT can complete a migration reliably. Any suggested changes would need review against the original program and its expected behaviour.
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Written with AI from OpenAI's original and published after automatic checks: every figure here appears in the original, and no sentence is copied from it. The picture is AI-generated. The original is the authority.
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Source: Advancing coding in low‑resource programming languages, OpenAI, 19 Oct 2026.