# OpenAI says its model is better at COBOL, Fortran, and Visual Basic

Digest AI · Generative AI & Models · published 2026-10-19T15:34:00Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/openai-says-its-model-is-better-at-cobol-fortran-and-visual-basic

## Summary

OpenAI announced on X that its newest model includes improvements for writing and migrating code in COBOL, Fortran and Visual Basic. The company framed the work as helping teams understand decades‑old business logic and preserve system behavior while modernising legacy applications. OpenAI is soliciting feedback from developers and enterprise customers on other languages or workflows that could benefit.

The update targets an estimated 800 billion lines of COBOL still in production at banks, government agencies and large enterprises. Prior research benchmarks have shown Pass@1 rates for COBOL tasks ranging from single digits up to about 40%, indicating historically low success. OpenAI has not released comparable benchmark figures for the new update, so independent testing will be needed. Anthropic released COBOL‑related updates in February 2026, and IBM’s watsonx Code Assistant translates COBOL to Java; IBM’s shares fell roughly 13% after Anthropic’s announcement. Agentic AI workflows can reportedly translate and optimise Fortran code for a cost as low as a few USD per kernel.

## Key points

- OpenAI announced model improvements for COBOL, Fortran, and Visual Basic to aid legacy code understanding and migration.
- Estimated 800 billion lines of COBOL remain in production; past benchmarks showed Pass@1 rates from single digits to ~40%.
- Anthropic released COBOL updates in February 2026 and IBM offers watsonx Code Assistant; IBM shares dropped about 13% after Anthropic’s news.

## Why it matters

Modernising legacy COBOL, Fortran and Visual Basic code can reduce costly maintenance for banks and government agencies, but reliable AI assistance is crucial for compliance and system stability.

## Sources

1. [OpenAI upgrades its model for COBOL, Fortran, and other legacy code](https://cryptobriefing.com/openai-upgrades-model-cobol-fortran-legacy-code) (cryptobriefing.com, 2026-10-19)

## Cite

Digest AI, "OpenAI says its model is better at COBOL, Fortran, and Visual Basic", 19 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/openai-says-its-model-is-better-at-cobol-fortran-and-visual-basic

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