19.07.2026
2 min
111
OpenAI is ending its partnership with the Cursor coding service following its acquisition by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Access to existing OpenAI models is expected to end on November 12, 2026, while future models will not be made available in Cursor.
Earlier this month, SpaceX completed its acquisition of Anysphere, the startup behind Cursor. Elon Musk’s company paid $60 billion for the developer platform and its associated AI technologies, aiming to strengthen SpaceX’s position in the enterprise AI tools market.
Following the deal, Cursor said that joining SpaceX would open up significantly broader opportunities for the company.
“SpaceX is building the computing capacity needed to scale intelligence far beyond what exists today. Cursor will be one place where that intelligence becomes useful. For us, that opens a much larger horizon than the one we started with, while keeping the work familiar,” Cursor said.
However, the change in ownership prompted OpenAI to reconsider its partnership with the service. The company notified SpaceX that it intended to terminate the contract under which it supplied its models to Cursor.
OpenAI stressed that the decision was unrelated to Cursor’s team or the quality of its product. Instead, it was driven by concerns that SpaceX might not comply with the terms governing the use of OpenAI’s technology.
“This decision was incredibly tough, as we care deeply about our models being broadly available for developers. We are making this choice because we cannot be confident that SpaceX will use our technology within our terms of service, based on our experience with Elon Musk’s companies violating contracts,” OpenAI explained.
When working with major partners such as SpaceX, OpenAI typically enters into custom agreements. These contracts are intended to ensure compliance with the company’s rules and the safe use of its technology at scale.
According to OpenAI, after Musk acquired Twitter, now called X and part of SpaceX, the company breached the terms of its contract with the ChatGPT developer. OpenAI also claims that Musk admitted under oath earlier this year that xAI, which is now also part of SpaceX, had violated its terms of service.
OpenAI’s agreement with Cursor included a limited period during which the contract could be terminated following a change of control. SpaceX’s acquisition of the startup triggered this clause.
To give developers as much time as possible to prepare, OpenAI decided to keep its existing models available in Cursor until the latest date permitted under the contract.
“To maximize the time that developers can retain access to our models through Cursor, we are giving the maximum notice provided by our contract,” OpenAI said.
Existing OpenAI models are expected to be removed from Cursor on November 12, 2026. The company’s future models will not be integrated into the service. This includes the upcoming Astra model, whose use OpenAI considers particularly important to oversee as AI capabilities continue to advance.
Elon Musk said that he was unconcerned about the termination of the Cursor contract. Responding to OpenAI’s decision, he insulted company leaders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman while repeating his long-standing allegation that they had taken control of an open-source nonprofit organization.
“I couldn’t care less. Scam Altman and Greg Stockman are utterly untrustworthy assholes who stole an open source nonprofit,” Musk wrote on X.
OpenAI has worked with Cursor for nearly four years. The company emphasized that it has enormous respect for the service’s team, its product, and what it has built for the developer community.
OpenAI acknowledged that the developers who rely on its models within Cursor would be most affected by the decision. The company pledged to go above and beyond its formal obligations to support them throughout the transition.
Cursor is an AI coding tool that helps developers write, edit, and explain code. The platform supports models from multiple companies, meaning the end of its partnership with OpenAI will not cause the service itself to shut down.
OpenAI’s decision marks another chapter in the long-running dispute between Elon Musk and the company’s leadership. Musk was one of OpenAI’s co-founders but later left the organization and began publicly accusing it of abandoning its original nonprofit mission.
Cursor users will be able to continue working with the currently available OpenAI models until November 12. Unless the companies reach an agreement, the service will lose access to those models after that date, while future OpenAI releases, including Astra, will not be added to Cursor.
