OpenAI has announced plans to stop providing its artificial intelligence models to Cursor, the coding-tool company recently acquired by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, escalating an already bitter rivalry between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The decision, announced on Friday, comes after years of conflict between Musk and OpenAI. The two sides have also been involved in a major legal battle over the direction and ownership of the AI company.
OpenAI cites contract and safety concerns
OpenAI said it decided to terminate its relationship with Cursor because it could not be confident that SpaceX would use its technology in accordance with the company’s terms of service.
The AI company pointed to what it described as previous contract violations involving Musk’s companies.
OpenAI said that working with a major partner such as SpaceX normally requires customized agreements to ensure compliance with its rules and to maintain safety standards when its technology is deployed at scale.
The company has proposed November 12, 2026, as the date when access to its models for Cursor would end. OpenAI said its agreement with Cursor provides a limited period in which the contract can be terminated following a change in ownership.
Musk dismisses OpenAI’s decision
Musk responded to the announcement on X, saying he “couldn’t care less” about OpenAI’s decision.
He also accused Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman of being “untrustworthy” and repeated his long-standing claim that OpenAI abandoned or effectively took away the original nonprofit mission on which the company was founded.
Musk was one of OpenAI’s early co-founders but later left the organization. His relationship with Altman has since deteriorated significantly.
The dispute escalated into a major legal battle, with Musk suing OpenAI and Altman over the company’s transition toward a more commercial structure. Musk argued that the company had betrayed its original nonprofit purpose for financial gain.
A federal jury ruled against Musk earlier this year, finding that his lawsuit had been filed too late.
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Cursor owner SpaceX acquired startup for $60 billion
The latest dispute follows SpaceX’s acquisition of Anysphere, the startup behind Cursor.
SpaceX announced the acquisition in June in an all-stock deal reportedly valued at $60 billion. The transaction was completed earlier this month, making Cursor part of Musk’s rapidly expanding technology empire.
Michael Truell, a co-founder of Cursor who is now a SpaceX executive, said on X that the company was already in discussions with OpenAI in an effort to resolve the dispute.
The future of Cursor’s access to OpenAI technology could therefore depend on whether the two companies reach a new agreement before the proposed November deadline.
Anthropic offers an alternative
The dispute could also benefit OpenAI’s competitors.
Anthropic, which competes with both OpenAI and SpaceX in parts of the artificial intelligence market while maintaining a partnership with SpaceX, said it planned to increase computing resources to support its Claude models in Cursor.
Tom Brown, one of Anthropic’s co-founders, disclosed the plan after OpenAI announced its decision.
This could give Cursor an alternative source of advanced AI models if its access to OpenAI technology ends.
Musk and Altman feud enters another phase
The latest disagreement is another development in the long-running confrontation between Musk and Altman.
OpenAI said that Musk’s companies had previously violated contracts, while Musk has continued to criticize the company’s transformation from its original nonprofit structure.
OpenAI also cited the acquisition of X, formerly Twitter, by Musk as an example of a previous change in control that it said resulted in a breach of its agreement with the platform.
With SpaceX now owning Cursor and OpenAI preparing to cut off its models, the dispute has expanded beyond their legal battle into the rapidly growing AI coding market.
For Cursor, the immediate priority will be ensuring that its users continue to have reliable access to advanced AI models. For OpenAI and Musk, meanwhile, the confrontation appears far from over.
