OpenAI plans to stop providing artificial intelligence models to the Cursor service after it came under the control of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The company proposed cutting off access on November 12, although Cursor management is still working to reach an agreement with OpenAI. The decision is the latest episode in a long-running confrontation between Musk and OpenAI chief Sam Altman.
Image Source: Cursor
In June, SpaceX reached an agreement to acquire Cursor developer Anysphere for $60 billion, and the deal was completed in early August. It was the change in ownership that gave OpenAI the legal opportunity to terminate the relationship: the individual contract with Cursor provided for a limited period during which OpenAI could terminate the agreement following a change in control of the company. ChatGPT developers decided to exercise this right by setting the latest contract closing date to November 12th.
«We made this decision because, based on our experience with Musk’s companies breaching contracts, we cannot be confident that SpaceX will use our technology in accordance with our terms of service“OpenAI said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Cursor itself, which has been working with OpenAI for nearly four years, has not been accused of violating the terms of the agreement. OpenAI cited Musk’s previous experience working with other companies. According to her, the former Twitter X violated the terms of its contract with OpenAI after being controlled by the entrepreneur. Additionally, the company said that earlier this year, Musk admitted under oath that xAI, now also part of SpaceX, violated the terms of use of OpenAI technology.
OpenAI also points to growing risks associated with the capabilities of new artificial intelligence models. Existing Cursor access will continue until the expected end of the contract, but future OpenAI models, including the upcoming Astra, will no longer receive the service.
Cursor founder Michael Truell, now a senior executive at SpaceX, said the two sides are continuing to negotiate. “Cursor was one of OpenAI’s first customers and we have worked closely with their team over the years and rely on their platform as a neutral infrastructure for our business,” Trull wrote in “X.”
After acquiring Anysphere, Cursor’s relationship with SpaceX became even closer. SpaceX provides the company with computing power to develop and train artificial intelligence, while Cursor is involved in improving SpaceX’s existing models (including Grok) and possibly developing new models. As such, OpenAI is effectively the technology provider for the service, and its new owners are simultaneously developing a competitive artificial intelligence platform.
The conflict between Musk and Altman has been going on for several years and has gone to court before. Musk accused OpenAI and its management of betraying the company’s original non-profit mission and demanded about $150 billion. OpenAI claimed that Musk himself had previously attempted to gain control of the company. This year, a federal jury ruled against Musk, finding that he filed the lawsuit too late.
Musk himself responded with “I don’t care” to OpenAI’s decision, calling Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman untrustworthy.
However, Cursor will not be short of powerful third-party AI models. Hours after OpenAI announced the news, rival Anthropic said it would increase the amount of computing resources allocated to running Claude models in Cursor. Meanwhile, Anthropic itself continues to work with SpaceX.
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