Sanfrancisco: OpenAI plans to end its agreement to provide artificial intelligence models to Cursor, a coding tool acquired by Elon Musk’s SpaceX earlier this month, in a further development in the long running dispute between Musk and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.
OpenAI said on August 28 that it had notified SpaceX of its intention to wind down the contract. It proposed November 12, 2026, as the date when Cursor’s direct access to OpenAI models could end.
OpenAI said it was deciding because it could not be confident that SpaceX would use its technology within OpenAI’s terms of service. The company also referred to what it described as previous contract violations involving Musk’s companies, including X and xAI.
OpenAI said its agreement with Cursor gives it a limited period to cancel the contract following a change in ownership. It said it was giving the maximum notice allowed under the agreement to give developers more time to retain access to its models through Cursor.
The decision does not mean that Cursor is being shut down. Cursor remains operational and supports artificial intelligence models from several companies.
Cursor was developed by Anysphere, a company that provides tools to help software developers write, edit and improve computer code. SpaceX agreed to acquire Anysphere in June in an all stock deal with an implied equity value of $60 billion.
The acquisition was completed on August 14, making Cursor a wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceX, according to a filing with US regulators.
OpenAI’s decision followed the change in ownership. The company said it had worked with Cursor for nearly four years and said it respected its team and product.
The November 12 date is a proposed transition date. OpenAI said it would continue providing Cursor access to the OpenAI models it uses today during the transition period. It said the official termination date would be shared once it is confirmed between the two companies.
Developers will have other ways to continue using OpenAI models with Cursor. OpenAI said users can bring their own OpenAI application programming interface key for supported features, use the Codex extension inside Cursor or access OpenAI models through compatible gateway providers.
Cursor co founder Michael Truell, now an executive at SpaceX, said the company was speaking with OpenAI to try to resolve the issue.
Anthropic, a rival artificial intelligence company, also plans to increase support for its Claude models in Cursor, according to Anthropic co founder Tom Brown.
Cursor already works with models from several providers, so the end of its direct agreement with OpenAI would not mean the end of artificial intelligence services on the platform.
Musk responded to OpenAI’s announcement by dismissing the decision and criticising Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman. Musk has been involved in a long running dispute with OpenAI over the company’s decision to move beyond its original nonprofit structure.
Musk was one of the founders of OpenAI when it was established in 2015. He later left the organisation and became one of its most prominent critics.
The dispute reached the courts this year when Musk sought about $150 billion in damages in a lawsuit against OpenAI and its leaders. In May, a nine person federal jury in Oakland, California, found that Musk had waited too long to bring the case, leading to the dismissal of his claims.
The latest dispute comes as major artificial intelligence companies compete for developers and businesses that rely on AI coding tools. For Cursor users, the immediate issue is how access to OpenAI models will change if the agreement ends after the proposed November transition date.