After Musk's acquisition: OpenAI to cut off model access for Cursor
OpenAI announced it will stop providing Cursor with access to its models on November 12, citing past contract violations by Elon Musk's companies. Cursor co-founder Michael Truell stated that negotiations are ongoing and emphasized that OpenAI models account for only about 5% of the platform's usage.
The rift between OpenAI and Elon Musk has reached the development platform Cursor. The AI company announced that on November 12, it will stop providing its models to the popular development environment, roughly two weeks after SpaceX completed its acquisition of Anysphere, the company behind the platform.
Cursor allows programmers to write, edit, and test code using artificial intelligence. SpaceX acquired the company in a $60 billion stock deal as part of Musk's efforts to expand his AI operations and compete with OpenAI and Anthropic.
OpenAI did not attribute the move to any issues within Cursor itself, but rather to a lack of trust in the new owners. In an official statement, the company expressed doubt that SpaceX would use its technology in compliance with established rules.
"We are making this decision because we do not have confidence that SpaceX will use our technology in accordance with the terms of use, given our experience with contract violations by Elon Musk's companies," OpenAI's statement read.
This harsh sentence became the focal point of the announcement, which was otherwise phrased in a conciliatory tone. In one of the most prominent responses to the post, users highlighted this specific paragraph as the core of the issue.
The reason for the decision: past incidents
OpenAI pointed to two previous incidents to explain its concerns. It claims that after Musk acquired Twitter (now X, part of the SpaceX group), the company violated its agreement with OpenAI. Furthermore, OpenAI noted that earlier this year, Musk admitted in testimony that xAI had violated its terms of use.
OpenAI's contract with Cursor includes a clause allowing for termination in the event of a change in ownership. The acquisition of Cursor by SpaceX forced OpenAI to decide whether to continue the agreement.
The company stated it chose the latest possible disconnection date allowed by the contract to give developers time to prepare. Until November 12, Cursor users can continue accessing existing OpenAI models, but new models, such as the upcoming Astra, will not be added to the platform.
Cursor's response
Michael Truell, one of Cursor's founders, wrote that the company is in talks with OpenAI to prevent the disconnection. He emphasized that Cursor's reliance on OpenAI models is limited.
"We are sorry that OpenAI announced its intention to deny Cursor users access to its models. OpenAI models are used in only about 5% of the activity on the platform," Truell wrote. He added that since Cursor offers models from several companies, the end of the engagement with OpenAI will not shut down the service.
Musk himself reacted sharply to the news, stating, "I don't care at all." He later criticized OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman, calling them "people who cannot be trusted."
Meanwhile, Anthropic is seeking to deepen its relationship with the platform. Tom Brown, one of Anthropic's founders, wrote: "Cursor has been a trusted partner of Anthropic since the launch of Sonnet 3.5. We will continue to increase the computing resources allocated to support Claude models in Cursor."
