OpenAI cuts off Cursor after SpaceX’s $60B acquisition
If you rely on Cursor for AI-assisted coding, the platform’s model access is about to get complicated. OpenAI announced on Aug 28 that it plans to stop supplying AI models to Cursor, with a proposed shutoff date of Nov 12, 2026.
Why OpenAI Is Pulling Out
The move follows SpaceX completing its acquisition of Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, earlier in August. SpaceX had announced the all-stock deal in June, valuing Anysphere at $60 billion.
OpenAI’s stated reason is a trust problem, not a technical one. In a blog post, the company said it cannot be confident SpaceX will use its technology within its terms of service, pointing to what it described as prior contract violations by Elon Musk’s companies. X, formerly Twitter and now part of SpaceX, was cited specifically as having breached its contract terms after Musk acquired the platform.
OpenAI added that working with a partner of SpaceX’s scale typically requires a custom contract to ensure safety compliance at scale, and that the change of control triggered a window in its existing Cursor agreement to cancel.
What Cursor Said
Cursor was one of the very first users of OpenAI, we’ve worked closely with their team for years, and we’ve trusted their platform to be neutral infrastructure for our business.
That is from Michael Truell, a Cursor co-founder and now a SpaceX executive, posted on X. Truell said his team was in talks with OpenAI to resolve the situation.
The Broader Context
The Altman-Musk feud reached a courtroom earlier this year. Musk had sued OpenAI for $150 billion, accusing the company of betraying its original nonprofit mission. A federal jury ruled against Musk, finding that he filed the case too late.
For Cursor users, the practical question is model access going forward. The tool currently supports Grok models from SpaceXAI as first-party options, alongside models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Losing OpenAI models from the lineup would narrow those choices by one significant provider.
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