San Francisco: OpenAI plans to stop providing its AI models to Cursor, the coding platform now owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, adding another chapter to the long-running dispute between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The decision comes amid an increasingly strained relationship between Musk and Altman, whose disagreement over OpenAI has escalated into a legal battle.
Earlier this year, Musk sued OpenAI and Altman in a case involving the company’s original nonprofit structure and its direction. A federal jury ultimately ruled against Musk, determining that his lawsuit had been filed too late.
We’re ending our partnership with Cursor following its acquisition by SpaceX. Under our proposal, Cursor’s direct access to our models would end on November 12.
We know that the people most affected by this decision are the developers who rely on OpenAI models in Cursor. We care…
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) August 29, 2026
OpenAI said that it decided to end its arrangement with Cursor because it could not be confident that SpaceX would use its technology in accordance with its terms of service. The company pointed to what it described as previous contract violations involving Musk’s companies.
Elon Musk dismissed the move in a post on X, saying he was unconcerned by the decision. Musk also renewed his criticism of Altman and OpenAI leadership, accusing them of being untrustworthy and repeating his claim that OpenAI had abandoned its original nonprofit mission.
Michael Truell, a co-founder of Cursor who is now a SpaceX executive, noted that the company was in discussions with OpenAI in an effort to resolve the dispute. Meanwhile, Anthropic, another major AI competitor, said it planned to expand computing capacity to support its Claude models on Cursor. Anthropic already has a partnership with SpaceX.
Agreement violation
OpenAI said X, formerly known as Twitter and now part of SpaceX, had violated the terms of its agreement with OpenAI following Musk’s acquisition of the platform. The company noted that the partnerships involving major organisations typically require customised contracts covering compliance, safety and large-scale technology integration.
OpenAI has proposed November 12, 2026, as the date for shutting off its services to Cursor. The company said its agreement with Cursor provides a limited period in which it can terminate the arrangement following a change in control.
SpaceX agreed in June to acquire Anysphere, the startup behind Cursor, in an all-stock transaction valued at $60 billion. The acquisition was completed earlier this month, bringing Cursor under SpaceX ownership and further intensifying the technology rivalry surrounding Musk and OpenAI.
MOST READ | China races to prevent new flooding near Nepal border
