OpenAI cuts off Cursor as Altman-Musk feud escalates further

OpenAI is withdrawing its AI models from Cursor, the coding assistant now owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

OpenAI is withdrawing its AI models from Cursor, the coding assistant now owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The move marks the latest chapter in the long-running rivalry between the two tech leaders.

SpaceX completed its $60 billion acquisition of Cursor’s parent company earlier this month. OpenAI says it will officially cut access on November 12, citing a contract clause that allows termination in the event of a “change of control.”

The company explained that it has no confidence SpaceX would honour its terms of service. OpenAI pointed to what it described as a repeated pattern of Musk-owned companies violating contractual agreements.

Musk responded quickly on X, dismissing the decision within hours. He said he “couldn’t care less” about losing access and went further by calling both Sam Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman “untrustworthy.” He also repeated his long-standing accusation that the pair “stole” what was originally an open-source nonprofit organisation.

Michael Truell, one of Cursor’s co-founders and now a SpaceX executive following the acquisition, offered a more measured response. He noted that Cursor had been among the earliest adopters of OpenAI’s technology and had always treated the platform as neutral, shared infrastructure rather than picking sides.

Meanwhile, Anthropic used the moment to strengthen its own position. Co-founder Tom Brown confirmed the company would boost computing resources dedicated to training Claude models specifically for use within Cursor. The platform already integrates models from Anthropic, Google, and SpaceX’s own Grok, alongside OpenAI’s offerings.

The larger conflict between Musk and Altman dates back to a major courtroom battle, where Musk sought $150 billion in damages. He accused Altman of abandoning OpenAI’s nonprofit mission in favour of personal financial gain. Earlier this year, a federal jury ruled against Musk, though the decision was based on his lawsuit being filed too late rather than an assessment of the claims themselves.

The rivalry between the two billionaires shows little sign of cooling down, with each new business move seemingly reigniting old tensions between them.